Mass Effect

[Wanzerfan]

Pretty sure I was able to apply points to everyone's loyalty including Grunts.

My brother is going to love to hear that . Thank goodness I have multiple save files; one Normandy file, one mission file, and one that I have archived (the Tali poker one). I'll just reload the "mission" file whenever the glitch rears its ugly head.

There's another glitch in Mass Effect 2 concerning a certain law enforcement officer, the one that you helped put away the Salarian official in Mass Effect 1, and this time she wants your help in nabbing a smuggling ring. After you talk to her and check your beer, the game won't let you talk to your mark (one of the Asari kiosk keepers on Illium). My suggestion: save before you talk to the cop, and only save after you talk to her if you are able to talk to the Asari salesperson.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[Wanzerfan]

This is an update, not a double post.

Well, it seems that there is a glitch regarding Grunt. I did his loyalty mission and was able to dump points into his special skill afterward.

Killing that Thresher Maw was a real motherf*cking bitch. Thank the lord that I had the Collector particle beam fully loaded (my ammo count for the freaking thing was 16 after I dropped the cocksucker). The bastard must be really fun to fight when the difficulty is set to Insanity.

Edited June 22, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[kaiotheforsaken]

Collector beam destroys all, even on Insanity. The fight is just long. But there 3 spots in the arena you can go to basically avoid all attacks from it. That being said, I always get a huge renegade bonus right after that and I can never figure out why. It made me quite angry.

Also, new DLC "Overlord" is out. Tried it for about an hour and liked it so far. But I was sick, then out of town, so I didn't get much more time with it.

Edited June 22, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[Wanzerfan]

I just finished Thane's loyalty mission, and I had Garrus with me, and, trust me, it was well worth it. He says something sarcastic when he finds out about the Shepard V.I., something along the lines of "That's harsh, Commander". Shepard's reponse was equally good: "Laugh it up, Garrus."

For something even better, ask Mordin about "Gilbert and Sullivan" after you complete his loyalty mission. His version of "Modern Major General" had me laughing my ass off. His dialogue tree when he finds out that you're persuing Tali as a lover is equally hilarious.

Joker has a few good lines as well in the game as well. My favorite of his so far is, "Garrus finally worked the stick out of his butt, but now he's trying to beat people to death with it. I can't believe I liked the old Garrus better." That one always brings a smile to my face. What he says when you bring Grunt's staitis capsule on board is the ultimate of sarcastic goodness.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[Wanzerfan]

Collector beam destroys all, even on Insanity. The fight is just long. But there 3 spots in the arena you can go to basically avoid all attacks from it. That being said, I always get a huge renegade bonus right after that and I can never figure out why. It made me quite angry.

Also, new DLC "Overlord" is out. Tried it for about an hour and liked it so far. But I was sick, then out of town, so I didn't get much more time with it.

I suspect you gave the response on the middle right hand of the side of the response wheel when you confronted the Krogan after defeating the Thresher Maw. I did the same when talking to Grunt about the Turan body being mutilated by a claw hammer and recieved a 5 point Renegade boost for the trouble.

[kaiotheforsaken]

I actually tried several of the options and got varying degrees of paragon/renegade points. One of the choices netted me around 15 renegade even though it was in the traditional "good" response slot. But it seems there is no avoiding at least SOME renegade (or paragon) points, regardless of how you play.

[Wanzerfan]

Well, the story does take place mostly in the Terminus Systems, where moral ambiguity is the norm, so it stands to reason that you get renegade points no matter what you do. Also it seems that BioWare is taking "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" approach to storytelling, where everything literally goes to hell before the story is finally resolved at the end of the next game.

If there is any setting BioWare can use for its next MMORPG, Mass Effect would be the perfect coice, as I've said before. After they're through with the Knights of the Old Republic one, that is.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[Wanzerfan]

I forgot to ask, how many Microsoft Points does the "Overlord" DLC cost? I don't have an X-Box Live account, so we have to use my brother's (it's a good thing the DLC that you get can be used on all the profiles on the console).

[kaiotheforsaken]

I forgot to ask, how many Microsoft Points does the "Overlord" DLC cost? I don't have an X-Box Live account, so we have to use my brother's (it's a good thing the DLC that you get can be used on all the profiles on the console).

It's 520-560, I cant recall exactly, but somewhere in that neighborhood.

[Wanzerfan]

Well, I completed just about every assingment except the Liara missions (I do not want the Renegade points associated with that mess) and Firewalker. The reason being is, well, I think I'll use a spoiler tag.

I did not want to lose any of the Normandy's crew by doing any missions prior to the opening of the Omega 4 Mass Relay, and I didn't know if going for the IFF constituted opening the endgame sequence or not. If not, I would've went for Legion sooner.

After I'm done with this playthrough I'm most likely going to start the whole shebang over again from the beginning, Most likely a male Shepard with a different Class and appearance (I'm using a Soldier now). I wanted to do Bring Down the Sky content (we got the Platinum Hits version after I started a vanilla Mass Effect 1 Career; big mistake not restarting the game) and get some of those ME1 Achievements I've missed.

Edited June 26, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[kaiotheforsaken]

You definitely made a good choice with regards to Legion. In my multiple playthroughs, I've actually made the same choice about Liara's little side quest.

Basically if you get him, that will lead to the the Joker sequence and the crew being captured and you will start losing the people that were taken. If you do 1 mission you lose half of them, 2 mission and everyone but Chakwas is dead/being liquidated as you show up. So even though there is some very interesting dialogue with Legion (especially in Tali's loyalty mission) it really isn't worth it if you care about the crew

[Wanzerfan]

Okay, so the flowchart on pages 18-19 of the Game Informer June 2010 issue is reletively correct in that respect (they got that info straight from BioWare, so I can basicly trust it).

Thanks for the info. I'll go ahead and do Firewalker and hold off going for the IFF until after my brother downloads Overlord (I certainly don't want to lose any of the Normandy's crew during my first Paragon playthough). Maybe I'll go back to playing Dragon Age: Origins or maybe Fallout 3.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[David Hingtgen]

Strangely, I ended up with a "perfect" ending for my renegade run without even really trying---so my paragon run is going to be different on purpose.

[Wanzerfan]

Firewalker's a blast to play. The hovercraft controls similarly to the Sodium craft in PSN's Salt Shooter game, it's just that the Mass Effect hovercraft has a better weapon.

Geth Collossi are a piece of cake, as long as you nail them from at least a klick away with the missles.

I just finished the freaking freezing world, and no suprise, no credits other than what The Illusive Man pays me. I'm now about to tackle the freaking volcano and I'm wondering one thing (I tried the mission before, but I decided to reload a previous save and save that mission for last): are there any credits hidden in that mission other than the ones squirreled away in that wall safe? I want to get the full 1,200 credits in the mission that matches what Cerberus pays me.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[kaiotheforsaken]

Yup you can totally go off the Gameinformer article about keeping everyone alive.

As for money in the Firewalker, I'm not really sure TBH. I know that money in all the DLC is pretty sparse however.

[Wanzerfan]

Yup you can totally go off the Gameinformer article about keeping everyone alive.

As for money in the Firewalker, I'm not really sure TBH. I know that money in all the DLC is pretty sparse however.

You're not kidding there. I just checked Shotgunnova's spoiler free walkthrough over at GameFaqs.com, and it seems there are only two locations for money; it looks like I missed the locker in the main lab during my first playthrogh of the mission. Curiously, money you find on the mission doesn't match what Cerberus pays you, unlike most other missions of the game.

The wall safe has 250 credits, while the freaking locker only has 125 credits.

Thanks for next to nothing, BioWare guys.

[Wanzerfan]

Well, I just finished the Firewalker DLC, and I have to say I'm impressed with the Hammerhead. I wasn't impressed with the Prothean Ruins mission, though.

I took Tali along expecting to meet up with Geth in the base, and got cheeseballed. No freaking on-foot combat whatsoever. I was expecting fighting my way through the base to a climatic battle worthy of ending the story arc after dealing with those rocket drones, not treking through an empty mine to a cutscene that looked like it was pasted on as an afterthought. Like Kevin of AOTS says, "What do you expect for nothing?"

I'm now going to hold off playing Mass Effect 2 for a while (just until we get Overlord).

P.S.: DON'T FORGET TO FEED YOUR FISH AFTER EVERY MISSION. I negleted to do that after completing a few missions, and well, lost all my fish, including the expensive Illium ones !!! I heard there is a way to have one of your crewmembers (I think it's Yeoman Chambers, I'm not sure) feed your little pets, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[BeyondTheGrave]

P.S.: DON'T FORGET TO FEED YOUR FISH AFTER EVERY MISSION. I negleted to do that after completing a few missions, and well, lost all my fish, including the expensive Illium ones !!! I heard there is a way to have one of your crewmembers (I think it's Yeoman Chambers, I'm not sure) feed your little pets, but I'm not sure how to do that.

You just wasted money on the fish. Kelly will not feed them from what i hear. In short they will die no matter what.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup, and feeding CONSTANTLY---they still die. (I think that's considered over-feeding)

[eugimon]

I only lost fish at the beginning of the game when I forgot to feed them for several missions. After that I fed them once after each mission and they lived just fine. Granted, it's pretty dull exercise as it's hardly 'sims fish' but they don't just contrarily decide to die... they're not FIFA or anything.

[CoryHolmes]

Am I the only one who was smart enough and avoided the fish in the first place? I knew they would die no matter what I did

[Wanzerfan]

This time I only bought the two cheapest fish found at Citedel, so if I lose them it wouldn't be a big loss. I thought getting Ms. Chambers to take care of your fish was a rumor, but I wasn't sure.

I also got the Space Hamster just for giggles.

Edited June 28, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[David Hingtgen]

Oh, it's true, she'll offer to take care of your fish. She just sucks at it, and they'll die quickly.

[CoryHolmes]

Oh, it's true, she'll offer to take care of your fish. She just sucks at it, and they'll die quickly.

What do you expect? She's just a yeoman

[Wanzerfan]

I think I found a teensy error regarding The Widow sniper rifle (which happens to be my favorite rifle so far) regarding its mass. They have it listed as 39Kg. I find that strange, because when converted to Imperial, the weight is a whopping 89 pounds!!! I highly doubt that even Shepard would be able to lug that freaking thing at the listed mass without getting a hernia, even with his enhanced strength. I think the weight was supposed to be 39 pounds and they didn't convert it to metric; when converted to metric, the mass would be around 17 Kilos, which is much more managable for him.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Wanzerfan

[BeyondTheGrave]

Idk. Maybe it is a typo.

Or you could write it off as a mass effect field is assisting Shepard in carrying it.

And if that's not good enough then the force.

[kaiotheforsaken]

I thought the whole point of the Widow was that it was the big, heavy, but intensely powerful rifle. I think it even says in the description that it is too heavy for standard assignments. It's also why Legion is the only other character who is able to utilize it.

Could be a typo, but the thing is supposed to be nasty, so 89 pounds would certainly qualify

[CoryHolmes]

The Widow is my favourite weapon in the game. Gun goes boom, target goes splat; what more could you want?

[Wanzerfan]

The Widow is my favourite weapon in the game. Gun goes boom, target goes splat; what more could you want?

Especially when you're upgrading the Sniper Rifle. +50% headshot damage, anyone?

[Wanzerfan]

Well, I just beat Mass Effect 2 for the first time saving not only all the Normandy crew, but without losing any of my team members (got my long service Achievement for importing my Shepard from the first game), and decided to play through the first game again (Vanguard this time instead of a soldier, using the default Shepard appearance, though). Little did I know when finishing the first game that I had to hack the human ambassador's comp to get me started on the Bring Down the Sky content. I'm going to wait until I recruit Liara to get that content done.

I loved in Mass Effect 2 when you choose Tali to sleep with. She certainly gets over her shyness very quickily; at least when you finally remove her faceplate, but it's a shame you don't see her face, though. What she says after you beat the game in which you sleep with her is amusing to say the least, "It was so worth it."

As for losing any of the crew in ME2, I have a sneaking suspicion that you have to at least attempt, but not necessarily succeed, all the loyalty missions before the Joker incedent happens (It happened right after I succeeded Legion's loyalty mission). I'm not entirely sure, though.

[kaiotheforsaken]

You are essentially right with regards to ME2, Getting Legion is basically the catalyst for the endgame. If you do it really early (or before doing many loayalty missions) non essential crew that were taken start dying after 1 or 2 missions.

As far as loyalty goes, if they are not loyal I believe they will die no matter what. If you take them with you to the final boss, they are crushed by falling debris and other non loyal members will die either on approach to the base or during the cut scenes.

[Ghost Train]

I'm approaching the end-game, though so far away from getting all upgrades. I did do the cannon & armor upgrade for the Normandy because I heard that impacts to some extent who survives the jump through Omega-4.

I only have to do Samara & Legion's loyalty mission.

I'm loving Infiltrator. Cloak + Snipey is so fun. Also, Cloak and flanking with SMG's is just so sick. Probably trying a biotic for my next playthrough.

[Duke Togo]

As for losing any of the crew in ME2, I have a sneaking suspicion that you have to at least attempt, but not necessarily succeed, all the loyalty missions before the Joker incedent happens (It happened right after I succeeded Legion's loyalty mission). I'm not entirely sure, though.

Basically, for your crew and the ship's crew to survive, you want to have all of the loyalty missions done before getting Legion, do his mission, and then move directly to the end game. If you don't, you'll start losing the Normandy's crew after a mission or two.

[David Hingtgen]

They completely nerfed biotics compared to ME1. It's hard (or really, BORING) to play through as now---to the point that they've quasi-announced a patch. (it may be part of a big DLC or something). If you want to sit behind cover and throw "warp" after "warp" after "warp" after "warp"----play a biotic.

[eugimon]

They completely nerfed biotics compared to ME1. It's hard (or really, BORING) to play through as now---to the point that they've quasi-announced a patch. (it may be part of a big DLC or something). If you want to sit behind cover and throw "warp" after "warp" after "warp" after "warp"----play a biotic.

That's because people don't combo the powers like the game wants you to but plays like ME1 where all you needed to do was spam one power.