163 replies to this topic

[craggy]

Liara's "father" IS revealed in ME3, but I think you may have to have played Lair of the Shadow Broker to trigger the conversation. It's

Spoiler

the bartender matriarch from Ilium.

oh. okay. I did Lair Of The Shadow Broker, but after the main game, so apparently my save didn't carry over.

[Hank Cannon]

Finished ME1 now I've imported my level 39 Shepherd and have started ME2. ME1 was epic...I'm kind of sucked in. This game has single handedly renewed my interest in Star Trek Online as well.

[Ogul]

I promoted three characters today, to support Operation Raptor. I got my Turian Sentinel to 20 yesterday, with a great group, although I don't like the class. There are a lot of little things about each class that they don't tell you and you need to figure out for yourself. In the TurSen's case, it's that they can't dodge, at all. no rolling, no leaping to the sides, certainly no cartwheels, you just have to make do with walking speeds. This means that they eat a lot or projectiles and grenades to the face. Other than that they're pretty fun, the armor comes in handy, especially the "eject armor" option when things get too close, and the versatility of having both Warp and Overload makes then awesome on artillery duty. They just die a lot, and are terrible when the enemy has them surrounded because they suck at escaping.

However, my new love is the Asari Vanguard. These ladies kick all sorts of ass. It's not so much that they are strong, like the DreAd is, but they are FUN. They are basically a one trick pony, Biotic Charge. Stasis is lame because any enemy you want to lock in place, it won't work on anyways, and Lift Grenades are the most useless grenades in the game, throwing weak enemies around a bit, but doing nothing to tough enemies. And that's the AsVan's problem, they have nothing on tough enemies, especially in large packs. That said, once I learned to play it and leveled it a bit, so that Biotic Charge hit multiple enemies and recharged fast, I was slaughtering moderately tough enemies with her, because I fought that I could Charge, which would stagger them and deal a lot of damage, and then, since I had it set to raise my weapon damage after using it, I would walk backwards while firing my pistol constantly (which was easier after I dropped the scope), and then after a second or so, Charge again, and repeat 2-3 times. I could do this on a Geth Pyro, for example, and he wouldn't even get to use his flame thrower! And I mean, Charge is just brilliant once you get used to it, you can scream across the entire map, all you need is an enemy to target, and it even goes over cover and stuff, so long as you can target the enemy behind it (like if they're standing up behind the cover or you have a height advantage).

The benefit to Charge (and the reason you see Vanguards playing things way too close to the enemies) is that it fully recharges your shields when used (once you max it out for that), so you can take damage from combat, have no shields, and then teleport right into their face and have full shields again. This makes you very durable when you time things right, but it forces you to make a lot of split second risk/reward choices, "I have low shields, there is an enemy right there, should I charge him even not knowing how much back-up he has?"

The other great thing about AsVans is that they teleport-dodge! Instead of rolling in any direction, they do a short range teleport. It really isn't a massive advantage, since the distance is about the same as anyone's roll, but it does seem faster, and I believe you're in fighting condition after using it a bit faster than a standard roll, and I imagine that if you are really good at timing you can dodge things better since you effectively don't exist for a split second. The trade-off is that it burns a portion of your shields each time you use it. It looked like maybe 5% or even 10% at lower levels, but once I maxed out my shielding options it was only taking maybe 2-3%, pretty negligible. Another great thing about them is that their basic "charged melee" attack is apparently the HuVan's NOVA move. I doubt it does the same damage, but it does a lot, and it's AoE, which is pretty sweet.

The only thing I wish with the AsVan was that they had something more useful than Lift Grenades (even that lame HuVan "wave" attack), and I wish that it were easier to aim Charge, especially in close quarters.

[Chris D]

However, my new love is the Asari Vanguard. These ladies kick all sorts of ass. It's not so much that they are strong, like the DreAd is, but they are FUN. They are basically a one trick pony, Biotic Charge. Stasis is lame because any enemy you want to lock in place, it won't work on anyways, and Lift Grenades are the most useless grenades in the game, throwing weak enemies around a bit, but doing nothing to tough enemies.

I actually think Stasis is pretty awesome. True, it doesn't work on the enemies that you'd really like it too, but I love stasis fielding shielded guys and then just blowing their heads off with a powerful pistol shot. And during objectives where you have to eliminate targets, it can be incredibly useful as well, assuming the targe isn't one of the powerful enemies. But yeah, the grenade sucks. Their melee is great. Charging into an enemy or two and then meleeing followed by another charge is very effective.

[Jonny]

I've been keeping away from this thread since I picked up the game so as to avoid spoilers, but I finally found the time to finish it last night and have just spent the last half-hour catching up on the two threads. I had been vaguely aware of some sort of controversy regarding the conclusion (without knowing any of the details), which I think allowed me to measure my expectations - it may not be a 100% satisfying denouement, but it's certainly not ruined my Mass Effect experience (which has been epic)!

I played through all three games in their original state, as I have never gotten around to hooking up X-Box Live (I know, I know, it's scandalous of me). Hopefully this Easter Weekend I'll find the time to correct that oversight, pick up all the DLC for the trilogy (and Arkham!) and look forward to an eventual replay from the beginning with all the bells and whistles!

Speaking of DLC...

oh. okay. I did Lair Of The Shadow Broker, but after the main game, so apparently my save didn't carry over.

It can't be anything to do with that, as I haven't played any of the DLC and yet I managed to

Spoiler

reunite Liara with her previously-mysterious father. I can't remember how it came up though... I just remember at some stage there was a "talk" marker over the Asari bartender!

[Ogul]

Yeah, I missed that scene too somehow. No clue why, as I also did Shadow Broker after the game.

Anyways, played some more with my AsVan, getting her up to level 19. I tried out the Carnifex, but don't like it for her. She's too mobile and needs to be able to just blind fire away without needing to aim too carefully, and the Carnifex has too little ammo and shoots too slowly. I then bought a Specter pack and got. . . two new shotguns! Yay! Now I have one of each of the shotguns, even though I never want to use any of them! But just to give it a shot, I tried the Disciple, which wasn't too terrible, actually. It slowed my regen down, but not nearly as much as most shottys would, and the fire radius made it easier to blind fire than the Carnifex. I'm sticking with the Phalanx though.

I enjoyed playing with her today, but I fought that she's much harder to play on Silver, the tricks don't translate quite as well when the enemies have more life. Also, I learned to HATE the "one shot" enemies, like Phantoms and Banshee. They really need to remove those one-hit perma-kill effects, they're no fun whatsoever, even as a challenge. Just "boom, you're dead now and can't be rezzed." I did have some awesome runs bullying Ravagers and Brutes though. As long as you're careful they're no problem. Banshees are no problem either, except for that one-shot kill move. Ravagers were a revelation, because they don't fight back at point blank range. Just charge them, melee to destroy the bugs, then repeat as necessary.

[craggy]

going to promote my 2 lvl 20s tonight. Might be me for Soldier, unless I happen to unlock the Krogan model. Gonna miss my Turian Sentinel. SMG and scoped sniper-pistol is so fun.

and Jonny, I'm sure I'll get around to that part on another playthrough eventually anyway. I've covered my thoughts on the ending before, but I agree, it didn't ruin the overall experience, which was excellent.

[Ogul]

It's not like you can start them right back up again. I mean, it only takes a few days of gameplay to max out a character, less if you can do Silver+.

[craggy]

yeah but they'll be all puny.

[Chris D]

Tried out a Gold match yesterday with my Asari Vangaurd. That was some crazy stuff. Didn't complete it, died on Wave 7. It was ridiculous. We were doing very well until about 10 Phantoms came out of the woodwork. My stasis field actually was a lifesaver for a lot of that match, freezing those stupid ninja things in place while the rest of the team brutalized them. But in Wave 7 there were just too many for us to handle and we got overwhelmed about halfway through the wave. Very hard, but still pretty fun.

[craggy]

what i find really bad is the odd occasion where I've searched for a bronze match, but ended up in a silver somehow.
i'll be strolling around, taking the odd pot-shot at some passing cannon-fodde-------WTF I'm dead, how?

[Ogul]

Yeah, I find silver to be doable with solid gear and a decent level 10+ character, but you need at least several decent players on your team, I've gotten through several games through extraction, but most tend to crap out around wave 9-10. But gold is indeed nuts I don't think I'm ready for that until I get some really high class weapons, some consumable upgrades, and then throw on a full suite of good equips.

[Hank Cannon]

Roughly in the middle of ME2 and I'm damn near convinced that the Citadel is a seemingly benign class of Reaper that makes people really, really stupid, especially The Council.

[RossS]

Just finished the first Citadel mission

Spoiler

I don't think my finger has ever moved so fast when the renegade option popped up during the Udina conforntation. Only way that could have been more satsfying is if I could have shot him in the face.

[Rory Abel]

Just finished the first Citadel mission

Spoiler

I don't think my finger has ever moved so fast when the renegade option popped up during the Udina conforntation. Only way that could have been more satsfying is if I could have shot him in the face.

There's a moment towards the end of the game where even though I was playing Paragon I chose the renegade option just because I knew it would be so satifying.

Oh and it's official:

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Free DLC Coming in Summer

BioWare has announced that it will be releasing extra ending content for Mass Effect 3 this summer in the form of free DLC.

The Mass Effect Extended Cut DLC will feature new cinematics and epilogue scenes that will expand upon the game's ending, providing extra detail and insight to fans. It will be available for free on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC - as long as you download it before April 2014.

Studio founder Dr Ray Muzyka commented that this was an ideal way to both keep the creative vision of Mass Effect 3 and appease fans unhappy with its ending. "Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding," he says.

"With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team's artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe."

[Ryan Landau]

Cautiously optimistic about what they'll come up with; 9th inning mishaps notwithstanding these are pretty smart guys, and so I'm hopeful they can come up with something satisfying. And even if they don't, we'll always have multiplayer.

[Mikha'il Tegler]

it's pretty much dead on what I want from Bioware.

[Chris D]

Can't complain about free stuff.

[Ryan]

They've said they are not changing the ending(s), just expanding and clarifying them (most likely the Endor Holocaust implications that a lot of the more negative minded have obsessed over). But I'm kind of okay with that:

Spoiler

the core themes of the Destroy and Controls options are something I would have expected anyway so as long as there's more of a sense of closure from either of those, I'm good. It's the lazy use of the same footage with different colour filters, the Catlyst exposition dump, ridiculous Normandy scenes, and that godawful Synthesis option with it's nonsensical future of sentient techno-organic baseball cap overlords that shit up the bed. They've said there will be new cut-scenes so as long as they also fix the Normandy part of the equation and expand reasoning with the Catalyst a bit, it should be salvageable.

I still say anyone who doesn't choose to destroy the Reapers is DOING IT WRONG, mind. It's a numbers game and in the long term, you're saving countless trillions from both death and horror. Control just isn't trustworthy enough for me to risk it on the basis of the info at hand...plus it just looks so much cooler blasting away at something than gripping sparklers and melting. Priorities, kids. Priorities.

[GordonM]

I didn't think the ending was that bad. It gives closure to the main storyline and you know enough about the cast going into the final battle that you can tell what's generally going to happen to the survivors afterwards. I appreciate the clamour for more info, but I don't think it deserves the hatred it's getting from some quarters.