The Mass Effect thread

[J.T.]

Bring Down the Sky is to the this day the only story DLC in the ME series I didn't do.

 

I imagine that you didn't play it because there was no option that allowed the Batarians to crash the asteroid into Terra Nova.

[Raziel]

Finish Mass Effect. Wrex survived, saved Ashley, saved the Council, nominated Anderson for the council position. Virmire, Ilos, and the final mission to save the Citadel all had a nice big movie epic feeling to them. I was pretty satisfied with Saren's ending (suicide route) as well though husk Saren was pretty damn creepy and annoying. I very much enjoyed it overall.

 

Not sure if I will continue onto 2 or take break and play something else. Anything I should know or just general tips before I do start 2?

Mining sucks, but its necessary.  Talk to crew between missions to open up the upgrades, use Mining resources to Upgrade.  UPGRADE EVERYTHING ON THE NORMANDY BEFORE YOU ENTER THE OMEGA RELAY!!!!!!!!!  No, seriously.

 

Also, do every loyalty mission.  Every one, don't skip.  I think there's two you can get away with failing and still manage best ending.  But do all the loyalty missions.

 

Whatever you do, don't skip Lair of the Shadow Broker, and do it kinda early (you're importing a ME1 save, you should be alright for that fight early), because the stuff it opens up helps with some credit farming/resource gathering.  Your Wrex and Council decisions'll make some stuff easier.

 

The Tatical Nuke fucking rules, but you'll only ever use it once.

 

From here out, you're on limited ammo.  The cover system works better than 1's did, and don't get too stressed about limited ammo, you find enough along the way that it never really becomes an issue.

[J.T.]

Minerals are a necessary evil because mods are must haves.  I seemed to always run out of Platinum and Element Zero.

 

I used the Cain three times::

 

1) Once on the mission where you find the secret Eclipse base where the three YMIR mechs are destroying the crates.  One shot fired at the right position kills all three mechs before they start wiping out the evidence and nets you the maximum credit payout.

 

2) Fired one shot to bring the Thresher Maw down to 50% health during Grunt's Loyalty Mission.  Grunt's Inferno Ammo, Mordin's Incinerate Tech, and Widow shots to the dome took care of the rest.

 

3) Two shots of the Cain will bring down the Proto-Reaper during the boss battle.  Make sure you use the N7 Armor mods that augment your ammo capacity so that the Cain's charge is over 200%.

 

Remember to keep the Cain equipped in your loadout for some missions if you don't use it so that you can grab the Heavy Weapon ammo crates to get the charge back to maximum.

[Raziel]

Oh, and if you do Miranda's loyality mission before Jack's, wait until your paragon points are pretty high to make the mediation choice.

 

Ditto if you do Tali's before Legion's.

[Eivion]

Went ahead and started 2. The control changes were a bit odd but nothing too different so I'm getting used them quickly despite being barely in. The limited ammo deal is going to take some time to get used to though its not so terrible like you mentioned. Not sure how I feel about how they changed up weaponry and armor. Do have to say that the Blood Armor here looks so much more awesome in this than it did in DAO & DA2. Despite being barely in I already love the character of Miranda, but at the same time I want to punch her in the face. Please tell me this will be an option.

 

Nearly forgot. How important is Paragon/Renegade this time around? Should i just focus on one again like in the last game or is it better do a healthy mixture of both?

[Raziel]

Stick to one, you need to be at least 3/4ths of the bar one way or the other to have your whole team loyal for the Suicide run.  

 

You get used to the weaponary stuff (you still find the new weapons for the most part), the armor you just need to upgrade, you can do the whole game in the N7 armor if you're solider.  But you might want to change up based on your class.  

 

There's really no particular order to doing the recruitment sweep/loyalty sweep, but you will get forced into the story-centric missions after x amount of missions complete, save for the start of the Omega Relay.  That's your Point of No Return.

[RIPPA]

Yeah - if I remember correctly the first "forced" event on ME2 is after you do 5 "things" (either recruitment or loyalty)

[Raziel]

Oh, yeah, and consider your choices very hard if you want to have a harder/easier time in the next game.

[Big Fresh]

Congrats, you made it to where the Mass Effect experience truly begins.

[RIPPA]

So JT and I were playing last night and a guy gets dropped into our session named "MisterRESPAWN"

 

Dont ask me why respawn was in all caps but it was.

So JT goes "Oh I thought his name was Mr. RSPW"

Which lead to an entire night of us joking that we were gaming with Jeremy Billones

 

"GOD DAMMIT JEREMY BILLONES! GET YOUR ASS IN THE HACK!"

So - yup - this is what you miss when you don't game with Team Leroy Jenkins

[J.T.]

So JT and I were playing last night and a guy gets dropped into our session named "MisterRESPAWN"

 

Dont ask me why respawn was in all caps but it was.

So JT goes "Oh I thought his name was Mr. RSPW"

Which lead to an entire night of us joking that we were gaming with Jeremy Billones

 

"GOD DAMMIT JEREMY BILLONES! GET YOUR ASS IN THE HACK!"

So - yup - this is what you miss when you don't game with Team Leroy Jenkins

 

Him being RSPW immediately placed him on the No Revive List without the benefit of having done something stupid during the mission.

 

This was almost as good as the time where we believed we were in a ME3 match with American Dragon as our Krogan Soldier.  Bryan Danielson was the worst Krogan player that ever lived.

[Eivion]

So far I have traveled to the Citadel to have my Spectre status reinstated, recruited Kasumi, recruited Mordin, and have begun mineral farming for upgrades. The farming is a bit boring but easy. I assume Element Zero is hard to find as I haven't managed to mine it yet, only find it during missions.The change in the leveling system is odd, but simple. I find myself using the sniper rifle way more often than before as nothing else seems to have great range or damage w/o requiring me to get too close. The enemy AI also seems to be \smarter as they dodge and go for cover a lot more often than they did in the  first game.

[RIPPA]

There are some really Eezo rich planets that help boost the score.

 

There is more than enough to go around but Eezo isn't as common as the other ones so if you find a planet that has Eezo - make sure you really scan it

 

If you don't plan on scanning every single planet - just look up a list of the Eezo rich planets to make your life easier

[Eivion]

I actually found two planets with Eezo a little earlier tonight so I'm good.

 

I forgot to mention this but so far my only disappointment/complaint is the map. I miss having a nice, regular map. The lack of one makes exploring a bit annoying as I end up going the actual right way first half the time, potentially missing out on loot. Not sure why they made such a change.

[Eivion]

So any suggestions on when to take Loyalty missions? I was curious as I have Kasumi's and Zaeed's already open.

 

Also what is up with leaving Garrus in damaged armor? It really doesn't make sense.

[RIPPA]

Honestly - in regards to most loyalty missions it would be more a case of which characters you want to unlock their special ability and who you have available to go with you on a mission.

 

In regards to the first - if you look at someone's powers and see their special ability (like Kasumi's Flashbang grenades or Zaed's Inferno grenades) that you really want - you probably would want to do that one sooner rather than later since it would unlock that power for you.

 

And some times - depending on the type of enemy you would be facing (which you can either look up or kinda figure out based on their past and the story) - some of your squadmates are better to take along with you so you might want to wait till you get them. (Plus - frequently there is bonus conversations, etc... depending on the partner)

 

Now I think only Kasumi's and Zaed's are available before your do Horizon. A lot more unlock after that. I almost always did Miranda's first because her power is Slam which I used the fuck out of (both with her as a squadmate and as a power for myself)

[Red is Dead]

Theres not a whole lot of element zero around in 2, eh...

 

christ on a bike, it's like rocking horse poo.

[BurningBeard]

If you decide to go Renegade in 2 then you get cool facial scarrings like your Shephard is some quasi-terminator.

 

Also, this is the best planet I stumbled across during my first playthrough

[J.T.]

It is important to read the Journal of the planet you are about to scan.

 

Some of the narratives specifically metion some eezo related event (ship crashed, too close to a star, etc.).

 

Don't bother scanning a planet with anything less than a Good rating.

[Eivion]

Finished Horizon last night. Figured I will either get Tali or do Lair of the Shadow Broker next.

 

So are Palladium and Iridium worth much? Its seems like I use them the least (170,000+ each) while I'm always as needing Platinum or eezo for weapons/armor upgrades.

[RIPPA]

All 4 are needed since some of them are necessary for the upgrades you need to make to the Normandy. Plus everything but eezo is used in weapons (just depends on the type)

 

Here is the breakdown of what types of things they go too

 

 

Element Zero Element Zero is used for biotic and engineering upgrades.

Iridium Iridium is used to upgrade assault rifles, sub-machine guns, and heavy weapons.

Palladium Palladium is used to upgrade cybernetics, shields, heavy pistols, and armor.

Platinum Platinum is used to upgrade shotguns, sniper rifles and medical equipment.

[J.T.]

Finished Horizon last night. Figured I will either get Tali or do Lair of the Shadow Broker next.

 

So are Palladium and Iridium worth much? Its seems like I use them the last (170,000+ each) while I'm always as needing Platinum or eezo for weapons/armor upgrades.

 

All of the minerals are important, but their usage will depend on what mods you research / find during missions or can afford to buy.  

 

You need to have a steady supply of Iridium handy to make sure that you can build new Heavy Weapons as soon as you successfully research them and Palladium is key to increasing your shield capacity, improving shield durability, and upgrading Shep's cybernetics.

 

Which brings up another point.  EXPLORE ALL AREAS OF THE MAP~!  You cannot return to re-do missions unless you load an old save, so if you miss available mods or credits, you cannot return back to reclaim them. 

 

Nothing sucks more than finishing a mission, looking at some guide, and discovering that you missed free mods or credits.

[odessasteps]

Finished Horizon last night. Figured I will either get Tali or do Lair of the Shadow Broker next.

 

So are Palladium and Iridium worth much? Its seems like I use them the last (170,000+ each) while I'm always as needing Platinum or eezo for weapons/armor upgrades.

 

All of the minerals are important, but their usage will depend on what mods you research / find during missions or can afford to buy.  

 

You need to have a steady supply of Iridium handy to make sure that you can build new Heavy Weapons as soon as you successfully research them and Palladium is key to increasing your shield capacity, improving shield durability, and upgrading Shep's cybernetics.

 

Which brings up another point.  EXPLORE ALL AREAS OF THE MAP~!  You cannot return to re-do missions unless you load an old save, so if you miss available mods or credits, you cannot return back to reclaim them. 

 

Nothing sucks more than finishing a mission, looking at some guide, and discovering that you missed free mods or credits.

Why it pays to play with "completists" like JT, who make sure you check every room for stuff.

[RIPPA]

Yeah - you bastards getting the gold chest without me was not cool

[odessasteps]

Yeah - you bastards getting the gold chest without me was not cool

But we know where it is now, so one of us can doit with you at some point.