Mass Effect

[JakeDuck]

Recently I got the Mass Effect Trilogy, and I've never played any Mass Effect games before hand. I've started the first game, and I would like to ask for some advice, things I should look for, etc. So, any Mass Effect players out there?

[Tasha]

Génial ! me and Al are die hard ME fans

Great to see you're trying out the trilogy !

 

Now then, tips. it's hard to think of some without giving anything away.

 

ME1 can be the most brutal of the three, because it has the harshest difficulty spikes. Thus at some areas it can get really get frustrating if you don't know what you're doing.

 

At some point, you're giving the choice in which order you'd like to do a few missions.

I suggest that you visit Noveria (the ice planet) as late in the game as possible.

There's a massive difficulty spike near the end of that mission.

 

Don't forget to talk to your squadmates after you've completed a mission. They're found on board of your ship. It's not mandatory by any means, but otherwise you'll miss out on some of the best moments.

 

Also if you're giving the option for a Paragon  / Renegade response / action, go for it. (Choosing Paragon gives you paragon points, and choosing Renegade gives you renegade points)

 

Later in the game, some critical dialogue options will only be available if you have the necessary amount of either Paragon or Renegade points. 

 

And as which class are you playing, may I ask? 

 

 

 

[MegaAfroMan]

ME is an amazing game series. As Samara said, it is the most difficult of the three, and in my opinion they get better progressively, with 3 being the best.

Personally I recommend for your first play through (because you WILL play through it multiple times) you don't reset. Ever. Unless of course something gamebreaking happens. Just stick with your choices and see where they take you. I think the experience the first time is better that way.

In ME 1 it isn't as important, but in ME2 and ME3 I left myself a few large side missions uncompleted just so I'd have new major quests for a second playthrough (which is a completetionist playthrough for me.) I think it added interesting flavor to the end of my story, but whether you do this is entirely up to you.

For ME1, unless you REALLY want a completetionist medal, I'd recommend ignoring all the search based side quests. They really just have you scanning and drivings all over the surface of practically every planet for a minimal EXP reward.

The most annoying one is the valuable resources or minerals or whatever. The others aren't too bad.

Also, before you reach a planet called Virmire, you'll want to have your intimidate or charm skill at at least 7. There is another way to unlock a key choice on this planet, but since I'm not going to give you any spoilers, I'll assume you've missed it. So you'll want a moderately high charm or intimidate skill. Otherwise you may end up kicking yourself in the ass after you reach Virmire, it was the only time in the entire trilogy I backtracked to fix a mistake.

If you haven't chose a class yet, I'd recommend soldier or vanguard. Only because they are the absolute easiest through most of the game. You'll have opportunity to change your class at the beginning of ME2 again anyways, and the classes all get some significant changes at that time.

However adept can work pretty well pretty quickly on, you just need to level up your moveset a bit. I haven't played Engineer or the Tech/Biotic combo.

Infiltrator is brutal until late game. Then it's godly. Untill you hit high levels, you won't be able to hit shit with a sniper rifle. At higher levels though, most things are a one shot kill with the right equipment. That's my current class, and I'm about halfway through ME2 in a completetionist attempt.

Oh also, SAVE OFTEN. Like every 5 freakin' minutes. The autosave in ME1 is attrocious.

And before you start your game on ME2, if you're on xbox, download the cereberus network from the ingame store. It's free and it gives you access to some free dlc, one of which is a squadmate for ME2.

I think that's all I've got for you...

Excellent series. You'll love it.

[nayrcraig]

After hearing such positive comments I'm also tempted to pick up ME1 in the Xbox sale, It seem like a game I would enjoy.

I'm guessing since it seems to be very story based I would need to start at 1 right?

[Slade]

Yes, Craig. You should start at one. 

It's very story-based and you can import your character from ME1 to 2 to 3. 

Mass Effect is a series about making choices, so as you'd imagine, your decisions will carry over from game to game with your character. 

 

Now ME1 may not be the best if we're looking at the technical side of things.

- There are framerate drops on consoles, and the overall combat could've been better. Your squad ai is meh.

The rest of the game pure perfection.

 

ME2 fixes all of the above mentioned problems, including the auto-save Afro mentioned and some game features that weren't all that great.

[Slade]

Also here are some general tips for Mass Effect 1. (You don't really need tips for 2 and 3)

 

Go to your game options, there you'll find:

 

Auto Level Up

Set this to off. You want to assign the points to both Shepard and all your squadmates.

 

Squad Power Usage - this determines if your squadmates are allowed to use their powers on their own.

Make sure this is either on defense only or preferably - completely disabled. Never set it on active.

As each power sets in motion a cooldown period for the character whoever used it, you want those powers to be available to you when things get hot. 

A tip: you can use more than one power at a time on one enemy.

So if you're facing a tough one, combine your powers and those of your squadmates to do some serious damage to him.

 

Ramming with the Mako

If you're having trouble with the Mako sections of the game, try ramming your enemies with it.

This not only does massive damage, but they'll also fall over and be disabled for a short time. Allowing you to finish them off with ease.

 

And like Afro said, save often. Like after every battle.

Never load your auto-save, you might as well hit reset.

 

 

There's a massive difficulty spike near the end of that mission.

 

No not the Asari Commandos! Not the Asari Commandos! AAAHHHHH all over my N7 armor! My N7 armor! AAAHHH [insert death music here]

[MegaAfroMan]

After hearing such positive comments I'm also tempted to pick up ME1 in the Xbox sale, It seem like a game I would enjoy.I'm guessing since it seems to be very story based I would need to start at 1 right?

If you really NEED to test the waters, then yes. Buy it in the sale.

Although I'm pretty sure you'd get a better value buying the whole trilogy set at your local gamestore, as opposed to getting ME1 on sale and buying ME 2 and 3 seperately.

I can't remember exactly, but I think I managed to get my Trilogy set used for between $30 to $40 US dollars.

So yeah. If you like action rpgs and amazing story lines, Mass Effect will blow you away.

Even though ME1 has some technical and gameplay flaws, as Slade said, ME2, and even more, ME3 just blow them away completely.

ME3 is nearly a Perfect game.

Even the tacked on Multiplayer survival mode is amazing. (Only goes to 11 rounds, so not like zombies. But lots of really interesting objectives are mixed into the rounds)

[thedinobot]

This is by far one of the best games I've ever played. You won't be disappointed by it! I hope you enjoy it!

[JakeDuck]

Thanks for the help, guys! I'm not very far into Mass Effect 1 at all, I've just passed the first couple missions and talked to the council. I chose the Vanguard class for my character. I've noticed that hitting your targets can be tough, so I try to move in close. It just ends up with me losing health. Will that get better over time or is there something I can do to improve it?

[MegaAfroMan]

Weapon accuracy will improve over time, it's one of the more annoying things about ME1, most weapons have no precision. Use your biotics, they are much easier to aim.

Just nab new guns with higher accuracy when you can, and modify them with accuracy boosting equpiment. Also rank up your weapons skills early, along with spectre. Those all should help.

[nayrcraig]

I went ahead and bought ME1, If I like it I can get a lead of 2 from a friend and then I'll get 3 so we can play the MP stuff.

I'll let you guys know what I think

[thedinobot]

I went ahead and bought ME1, If I like it I can get a lead of 2 from a friend and then I'll get 3 so we can play the MP stuff.

I'll let you guys know what I think

 

Awesome, enjoy!

[Slade]

Awesome, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

 

I actually like ME3's MP a lot.

Play it with a few friends and you'll have a blast.

11 Waves of enemies, and a few objections like get this object from point A to B, Defend this location or take special targets out.

All while trying to survive.

 

My tip; set everything to random (Location, Enemies) you'll gain way more XP this way.

 

And best of all; all the MP DLC is free.

Unlike CoD where you'll have to pay $4 dollars for a single weapon texture.

[MegaAfroMan]

Well... you CAN spend real money to get Multiplayer stuff, but the payout from missions in MP is significant enough, that you'll never really need to spend real money unless you really really want to.

[JakeDuck]

I just finished Mass Effect 1 last night, loved the combat towards the end of the game. I'm going to start ME2 as soon as I can! Thanks for the tip about autosaves, i would have been sent back A LOT if it weren't for that.

[thedinobot]

I just finished Mass Effect 1 last night, loved the combat towards the end of the game. I'm going to start ME2 as soon as I can! Thanks for the tip about autosaves, i would have been sent back A LOT if it weren't for that.

Mass Effect 2 is the best one in my opinion. You'll love it.

[MegaAfroMan]

I think ME 3 has better combat and customization

but

ME 2 has a very wide variety of missions.

[JakeDuck]

I just finished Mass Effect 2, it is such a great game! Absolutely amazing. I finished with all of my crew surviving and loyal, which only made it better. I am definitely going to do an Insanity run of the trilogy. Onward to Mass Effect 3!

[nayrcraig]

I just finished Mass Effect 2, it is such a great game! Absolutely amazing. I finished with all of my crew surviving and loyal, which only made it better. I am definitely going to do an Insanity run of the trilogy. Onward to Mass Effect 3!

 

Seems like your enjoying it, I am going to play it soon but I've been horribly sidetracked by Dark souls

[Undead]

Haha Mass Effect is all I've talked about for the past several months. Such a beautiful game. Sounds like you made all the right choices if you came out of ME 2 without any losses. I was gonna give you some tips but hell, I'm starting if for the third time over and lost a couple people the previous times on the suicide mission, maybe you guys have some tips for me instead!

 

Right now, I just recruited Liara on ME 1, thinking of going more Renegade on the personality side of things to see how that all unfolds. But yeah, it seems as though I'm forgetting somethings in ME 2 and 3. Anyone got any recommendations there? Does the DLC make a difference or am I just jumping ahead of the gun a little too quickly? I found out the hard way some of the characters loyalty comes purely from your dialog choices after helping them on their private missions in ME 2, which ultimately, effects whether or not they may live through the final mission or not.

 

But yeah, I guess the only think I can say is like Mega mentioned, you'll play it over again several times. You HAVE to, there's simple too much possibilites to NOT try different ways to play the series. For example, perhaps on your second playthrough, lean more towards the opposite reputation. Or even play as the opposite gender. 

 

And I gotta ask, who's your romantic interest? If you haven't started one, I'd highly recommend it the next playthrough. That is like the icing on the cake, storywise.

 

 

 

 

 

I'd recommend ignoring all the search based side quests. They really just have you scanning and drivings all over the surface of practically every planet for a minimal EXP reward.

 

I have to say, I quite enjoyed those missions, actually. The only disappointing thing was the rewards for doing so were weak. I expected to find some rare times or upgrades instead of just some intel. They kinda just got lazy with it in ME 2 and 3. I would probably be more interested in finding minerals if it meant exploring and finding rare items.

[Slade]

Does the DLC make a difference or am I just jumping ahead of the gun a little too quickly? 

 

Leviathan (ME3) gives you extra dialogue during the ending, Shadow Broker (ME2) has an impact on ME3. You'll know once you've beaten it.

Omega gives you more war assets if I recall correctly (never played it), not sure what Citadel (both ME3) does,

Arrival (ME2) gives you more conversations with everyone's favorite Black Hobo RussMAN turned giant synthetic Assuming Control guy. (yes, they're both voiced by the same guy)

 

 

And I gotta ask, who's your romantic interest? If you haven't started one, I'd highly recommend it the next playthrough. That is like the icing on the cake, storywise.

 

, 

 

all the way.

I mean the other one (no not the OTHER other one). Err this is confusing. 

The Justicar badass. There you go.

Her loyalty mission was awesome.

In the end, still so worth it. 

 

Next playthrough; Renegade Femshep on Insanity.

We tried to be badass the first time around, but man that's hard.

 

 

 

I am definitely going to do an Insanity run of the trilogy. 

[Undead]

Samara huh? She is pretty badass, but just seems a bit dull on the romance side of things. Still, someday I plan to...."romance" them all.

 

I'm actually on Mass Effect 2 going full Renegade. Believe it or not it actually isn't really "Bad" Ultimately when it comes down to it, the difference between Paragon and Renegade is really are you going to be more Charming in convos? Or Intimidating? So basically, whenever Paragon or Renegade specific dialog options appear, selecting Renegade isn't just "Lets be an ass" its more "Hey, I've got bigger problems, no make this harder on yourself"

 

Plus, dem scars in ME 2.

[yellow-card8]

jst git gud kid.

Regards Yellow-card8

[Slade]

Samara huh? She is pretty badass, but just seems a bit dull on the romance side of things. Still, someday I plan to...."romance" them all.

 

I'm actually on Mass Effect 2 going full Renegade. Believe it or not it actually isn't really "Bad" Ultimately when it comes down to it, the difference between Paragon and Renegade is really are you going to be more Charming in convos? Or Intimidating? So basically, whenever Paragon or Renegade specific dialog options appear, selecting Renegade isn't just "Lets be an ass" its more "Hey, I've got bigger problems, no make this harder on yourself"

 

 

This.

You play on xbox, Undead?

 

I've recenty sunk my teeth into the Multiplayer of ME3 and it's so freaking good.

Like others said it's basically a Gears of War horde-style survival mode up to 11 waves of fighting baddies.

After each mission you get credits which you can spend on packs that contain random goodies like weapons, ammo and/or weapon buffs, new characters and more.

Wanting to get all the weapons, weapon upgrades and characters makes it really quite addicting.

 

If anyone's got the game on PC (or xbox), PM me and we'll kick some ass. 

[JakeDuck]

Good to hear you have it on PC, Slade! My name on Origin in JakeDuck321, we should play soon.