MASS EFFECT FRANCHISE CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Casey]

Seems like the new patch, for PS5 anyway, has kind of broken the ability to interact with anything when exiting the Mako. X button doesn’t work to survey, get back in the Mako, etc. I didn’t have this problem before the patch was installed.

Loading a previous save fixes the issue but this is the second time it’s happen to me in like 10 minutes.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Casey

[RIPPA]

Looking around a few of the Infinite Paragon/Renegade Point exploits are still in the game if you need them

Some folks are complaining that it seems like using the new Legendary system is making it harder to get the points. Not sure that is actually a issue and not more folks wanting to talk through everything before they hit like Level 10

[Craig H]

See, I thought fighting the biotics on the Ontario was pretty easy. I really don't remember enemy AI being this bad in the original. Basically, all of biotics rushed us almost the same way all of the husks rush at you when you're doing an assignment to find missing engineers. So all of these dudes are coming at us all at once and the Ontario is cramped anyway, so I just shot at all of the exploding barrels and they all died pretty fast. And then I used my charm to end that mission without anymore bloodshed.

Honestly, the hardest time I've had fighting anything are when you're still outside the facility where Liara is and all of the hoppers keep sniping you and the large geth thing keeps blowing you all up. Took me 3 or 4 tries to get past that one.

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Looking around a few of the Infinite Paragon/Renegade Point exploits are still in the game if you need them

Some folks are complaining that it seems like using the new Legendary system is making it harder to get the points. Not sure that is actually a issue and not more folks wanting to talk through everything before they hit like Level 10

I'm having no issues getting Paragon / Renegade points on Legendary Mode..  

1 hour ago, Craig H said:

Honestly, the hardest time I've had fighting anything are when you're still outside the facility where Liara is and all of the hoppers keep sniping you and the large geth thing keeps blowing you all up. Took me 3 or 4 tries to get past that one.

Yeah, I actually had my team back up quite a ways and engaged in a sniper's duel with the Hoppers before engaging the Armature.  It only took me one try.

Between Garrus's sniper skills and Tali being able to hack the Troopers and getting them to fight for us, I didn't have too many issues.

[Craig H]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

I'm having no issues getting Paragon / Renegade points on Legendary Mode..  

Yeah, I actually had my team back up quite a ways and engaged in a sniper's duel with the Hoppers before engaging the Armature.  It only took me one try.

Between Garrus's sniper skills and Tali being able to hack the Troopers and getting them to fight for us, I didn't have too many issues.

I always, ALWAYS forget giving directions to my team.

Oh, another nitpick I guess and this is something I don't remember from years ago, but when I'm directing my team to use their powers, all of those powers look like they're coming from me and that looks kinda janky. It makes it feel more like my team doesn't matter. They already can't kill anything for shit. It would be nice if there was an AI setting to have them just go ham with their powers

[Raziel]

18 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I always, ALWAYS forget giving directions to my team.

Oh, another nitpick I guess and this is something I don't remember from years ago, but when I'm directing my team to use their powers, all of those powers look like they're coming from me and that looks kinda janky. It makes it feel more like my team doesn't matter. They already can't kill anything for shit. It would be nice if there was an AI setting to have them just go ham with their powers

Options -> Squad Power Settings -> Active.

[J.T.]

I'm not a big fan of Active Squad Powers as they all tend to spam them at the same time or spread them out over multiple targets before I can sic them on somebody specific. 

Biotics characters are the worst Active Squad Power offenders.   I don't need everyone spamming Throw when someone could be using Lift, Warp, or Singularity.  I also wish characters would spam their defensive powers more often, as almost no one activates Immunity, Barrier, or Shield Buff when I want them to.

Also, I am an achievement whore and need to get those power activation medals.

Edited May 18, 2021 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

I did save the spider queen. Also had enough charisma to defuse the xenophobic admiral when i returned to the Citdel.  And i got to save the crazy girl. 

[J.T.]

Holy fuck.  Besieged Base is nine thousand times worse than the original version thanks to the new deal where some enemies stay in cover and don't aggro with the crowd. 

Any wayward Biotic power aimed at you could inadvertently kill an insane scientist if you are not careful, and you cannot funnel all of the terrorists into the tunnel at the entrance of the base and use that location as a killbox.    After the first wave, you're going to have to go and hunt down at least two more terrorists.

It took me four tries to take out the terrorists without any civilian casualties.  It's 50% tactics and 50% luck.

Stasis and Neural Shock are your friends.  Damping, sadly, is not if a scientist is close to your tech mine when it detonates.

I am all done with Feros and Noveria.  Now it's time to grind some more side missions, hit up Bring Down The Sky, and then deal with the horror of Virmire.

Edited May 19, 2021 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

Annoyed that i could not salvage a satellite because my electronics was not high enough.

since i didnt save on this planet, i may redo it tomorrow and raise my specs before hand. 

[Raziel]

Picked up Liara and the Mako seems sturdier than it used to be.  Also had a hell of a time taking down the Armature, even with me and Tali doubling up with Overload and sabotage.  

Didn't have an issue taking down the Thresher Maw either, although that did actually cause me to hit the Omni-gel repair.  

I forgot how squishy Sentinels are the first half of the game.

[Craig H]

I kinda think the thresher maws are easier now.

[J.T.]

44 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Annoyed that i could not salvage a satellite because my electronics was not high enough.

since i didnt save on this planet, i may redo it tomorrow and raise my specs before hand. 

Salvages usually require Average or Master Electronics to unlock their loot and containers can either require Decryption or Electronics.  

You may want to have Master level Electronics skills by the time you get to Noveria.  Just sayin'.

[J.T.]

12 minutes ago, Raziel said:

I forgot how squishy Sentinels are the first half of the game.

Yeah, I usually defer the best Light Armor to Kaiden for the first half of the game until I level Tactical Armor up enough to start wearing Medium.

I also try to get Kaiden's Barrier up as fast as I can without skimping on First Aid and Medicine because Neural Shock is the best.

[odessasteps]

9 minutes ago, J.T. said:

Salvages usually require Average or Master Electronics to unlock their loot and containers can either require Decryption or Electronics.  

You may want to have Master level Electronics skills by the time you get to Noveria.  Just sayin'.

I did Noveria first. Prob doing Liara next. 

[J.T.]

I usually go to Therum before I go anywhere just for the dramatic effect of Liara having a showdown with her mom on Noveria, but there's no real sequence of events.  You could save Liara for last if you wanted to, but I like having her available early in the game.  It's not like she has to be power leveled if you rescue her late in the game.  Everyone levels up at the same rate.

I wish I had done Noveria before Feros so I could finally have a game where I got Ethan Jeong to see reason, but I think it would feel a bit anticlimactic to have Benezia achieve room temperature so early in the campaign.  I guess that is why I usually go the Therum -> Feros -> Noveria route for the main story missions.

I'm slowly drilling through the Specialist and Mastery achievements.  I still have Stasis, Neural Shock, and AI Hacking to go.  Tali will be busy during the Geth Invasion side mission and I need to get Kaiden to stun a few more people before I send him to his death on Virmire.

I'm having a lot of fun putting enemies in Stasis, throwing a frizbee grenade at their feet, and then detonating it once they come out of Stasis.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Heck - you can save getting Liara till like the end end.

She is a borderline lunatic if you do as she was there so long and is amazingly confused when you brain dump on her everything that happened 

[J.T.]

Hey, they "fixed" the Espionage Probe side gig!

Spoiler

They changed the model for Elanos Haliot from a human to a Turian to fit the script coming from a non-human POV.

I always thought it was kinda dumb for the holo to have a human model given his dialogue about sacking human colonies and referring to humans as "your kind."  Plus, Elanos Haliot does sound like a Turian name.

 

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

Heck - you can save getting Liara till like the end end.

She is a borderline lunatic if you do as she was there so long and is amazingly confused when you brain dump on her everything that happened 

I totally forgot about the oh by the way we killed your mom talk.  I think I ran that route when I did my FemShep Renegade playthrough.

Edited May 19, 2021 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Yeah I saw that in a video I stumbled upon last week which is like "the rarest Mass Effect events"

And it was mainly because people play as pure Paragon or pure Renegade so there are some things that require a lot of steps that get quirky things to happen.

Like you can play it so Ashley/Kaiden turns down your offer to rejoin in ME3

[odessasteps]

Got sloppy and had my first death. Doing the Asteroid x57 mission and tried to sneak in one of the bases while avoiding the turrets. Nope.  

[Craig H]

After doing the Bring Down the Sky mission a bunch of days ago, I went right on to getting Liara. From there, I didn't touch the Noveria or Feros missions and instead focused on the tons of assignments I had. Finally finished my last assignment I had in my queue last night and now I'm on to Noveria.

My biggest issue are with the rocket drones. Fuck them. Every time I come across a mission that will involve fighting robots, I just groan inside. Even with switching my ammo to Tungsten rounds, it doesn't feel like it makes a difference.

[dogwelder]

So I got the collection because I always wanted to play the series but never got around to the first one.  Any beginner tips?  And what's a good build that will last through the entire series?  Or does it not matter?

[odessasteps]

The main thing is deciding what class of player you want to be, soldier, biotic or mixture. Levelling up this new version doesnt seem to be an issue. 

[RIPPA]

Yeah - I would say looking at the descriptions (either in game or online)

It used to be a bigger issue - since the old version certain classes can only uses certain guns (this one you can use any gun - just some classes wont be as good in ones)

They do a good job of having like classes dedicated to one thing or a few classes that are a mix.

For all intents and purposes - Biotics = Magic and Techs provides the Hacking/Lockpicking type things. Your crewmates (assuming you recruit all of them) - are one from each class so you will still get to experience it all despite not playing as one

Honestly - I would probably say is just don't play as a Vanguard your first time.

[dogwelder]

30 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Honestly - I would probably say is just don't play as a Vanguard your first time.

Ha...I was toying around with that idea because one place I saw online while doing research called it the Jedi class.