LTTP: Mass Effect Series (now on Mass Effect 2)

[Purge]

Yeah.

A little late - I'm finding though the game is good, it really doesn't diverge from the Bioware formula much.

I just got the Normandy and am about to head out for the first time. I have almost all of the playable characters (IIRC I am just missing one from the silhouette-like screen)

Am I on the cusp of fun, or am I going to be running fetch quests and hopping around the citadel for the next 80 hours?

[Teggy]

You can spend an awful lot of time on the Citadel in the beginning, then it gets a lot better. However, driving around in the Mako can get old, as can standing in elevators.

[Purge]

I'm playing a good guy who can sometimes take a hard line, but generally am nice (which means I'm at odds with the character I affectionately refer to as Slithe, though his name is Wrex).




Yeah. Elevators piss me off.

Also, I discovered MSE was scanning my Steam folder, which would hang the game. Excluded it, and now it works fine.

Any advice on money-making?

[Teggy]

I think mining is pretty much the only way to make money, no?

[Creepy_Smell]

i just finished it the other day or so. i played up until the citadel then got bored and went off to other games. recently decided to finish so came back and just plowed straight through and resisted my RPG OCD to look in all corners and complete all quests. Took about 20hrs. I did end up enjoying it especially since its scifi. Favorite part was the last level or so except the final boss fight, but I'm never a fan of those. I did get ME2 on steam deal so will play that at some point by trying to knock out some FPS first or other RPGs I have installed. Not one of my fav RPGs but still thought it was worth a playthrough.

[Chordian]

I thought driving around in the Mako was wonderful. The almost barren planets with lots of mountains, rare monsters and structures really worked for me and helped making it feel genuinely alien and unique. Really refreshing. The first time I drove around on a planet I couldn't help but think of Koronis Rift on the Commodore 64.

[Zarkon]

1)  You will make money hand over fist before you're 15 hours in.  Money will become worthless before end game.

2)  You will not make level 60 unless you do two playthroughs.  Even then,it's not definite.

3)  SHoot everything from outside of the Mako for mass XP.

4)  Choose either all Paragon or all Renegade.  Don't be wishy-washy.  Either be a hero or an asshole.

5)  There are some bugs in the first game that affect the second (Conrad Verner and the Asari Consort specifically).  Make sure to edit your save file before you import it to ME2, if you do.

Have fun!

[Laner]

2)  You will not make level 60 unless you do two playthroughs.  Even then,it's not definite.

The pinnacle station DLC Isis the easiest way to grind for XP.  I was able to hit lvl 60 my first play through.

[Zarkon]

I'll give that point.  I hate hate hate hate HATED Pinnacle Station.  What a complete waste of money DLC that was.

[Purge]

I'm creeping around the Site 15 right now (first mission off the Citadel).

I dunno what it is, but I got fed up with the almost-dying a lot on normal. I'm playing to experience the story, so I dropped it to easy (which is rare for me).

My sniper has a glass jaw.

I try to be good, but I can't seem to do it. I feel like a sucker for being goody-goody, but I can't commit myself to burning through orphans to get to the next point (although, it's not like anyone is going to miss them... )

[Purge]

Also, I want to bind my mouse4 button to the ESC key, since EVERYTHING is available through there. It's annoying that it can't be done normally. Have not looked into keymapping in config files. If anyone has a link handy, I'd appreciate it.

If not, I'll likely start digging tonight to find something.

[Purge]

Just looked up Pinnacle station - how long to get to lvl 60? Are we talking 15 hours of the same thing over and over and over?

[Teggy]

Why do you want to get to level 60? It gives you a minor starting advantage in ME2 over level 50 (which I got on a single playthrough), which doesn't even matter if you're going to play on easy.

BTW, I never got Pinnacle Station, because by most accounts it's boring (there is no story to it). Bring Down The Sky is pretty good, though.

[Purge]

See, and I don't *want* to play on easy - I just find that either I need to bring along Wrex (who kinda shoots people when I don't ask him to) or I'm hosed for combat.

I dunno. I wanna play a Paragon Shep, and then go through all the games again as a Renegade FemShep (which by all accounts will line up with ME2's reported "masculine" poses that she exhibits).

If the levels don't really matter, then I'll leave pinnacle alone - but I'd rather go back to being on normal. I guess I'm going to have to change over to an all-human cast (since I'm the sniper-type dude with some hacking - not enough skill points on it at the moment).

[kronovan]

I thought driving around in the Mako was wonderful. The almost barren planets with lots of mountains, rare monsters and structures really worked for me and helped making it feel genuinely alien and unique.

Pretty much my impression too. I loved exploring in the Mako and discovered many enclaves and some very interesting critters wandering around in the wilds. Heck I even managed to drive it up onto a mountain top once or twice. 

[Asharak]

Regarding difficulty in ME1, I will say this: the early part of the game is made surprisingly hard by having a lack of shields. Once you get armor that has decent shields (3-5 "bars" of them on the UI), your survivability increases a lot (since shields will recover during combat, as long you as stay down and stop taking damage). Similarly, if you're not playing a Soldier (who gets health regen as a class ability) using one of the armor upgrade slots for the medical interface (that grants health regen) lets you heal infinitely (although mostly outside of combat) without regard to Medi-Gel or the First Aid ability.

- Ash

[Teggy]

See, and I don't *want* to play on easy - I just find that either I need to bring along Wrex (who kinda shoots people when I don't ask him to) or I'm hosed for combat.

I dunno. I wanna play a Paragon Shep, and then go through all the games again as a Renegade FemShep (which by all accounts will line up with ME2's reported "masculine" poses that she exhibits).

If the levels don't really matter, then I'll leave pinnacle alone - but I'd rather go back to being on normal. I guess I'm going to have to change over to an all-human cast (since I'm the sniper-type dude with some hacking - not enough skill points on it at the moment).

Well I pretty much suck at video games and didn't have any kind of problem with normal besides two minor points that I can recall, so I'm going to have to pull a Hark and say "you're doing it wrong^TM"

Seriously though, I played as an Infiltrator with a sniper rifle and it does take some time to build up your skill. Early in the game you can hardly hit the broad side of a barn, and as you go along you're a bullet time death machine.

The other thing to do is make sure you are using appropriate ammo and biotics for the enemies you are facing, that helps a lot.

Oh yeah, and use cover.

[Purge]

Helpful, you are.

[Purge]

Just finished with the first of many planets.

I just finished Site15 (Novaria?) where I let the Arachni queen go free.

Hope that doesn't bite me in the ass.

[Andrew Wonser]

Don't buy every license. Your shop on the ship randomly picks, from the ones you have, to sell to you. So you have less of a chance to get what you want with a larger catalog being pulled from.
Recommend Kassa Fabrication, Geth Armory and Serrice Council. Pinnacle Station also rewards you with good weapons but honestly if you don't want to go through the grind I believe the Spectre ones are better.

[Purge]

Quick question :

"  There are some bugs in the first game that affect the second (Conrad Verner and the Asari Consort specifically).  Make sure to edit your save file before you import it to ME2, if you do." What does this mean? I just finished ME1 and am now bobbing around in my new ship and have a feeling of dread.

[Zarkon]

What it means is that no matter what you chose, Conrad Verner will think you pulled a gun on him in ME1 and the Asari Consort will be disgraced.  So you want to edit the ME1 save file before importing to ME2.

Oddly enough, I didn't even find Conrad in ME2, and I got a letter from the Asari Consort thanking me.  So I'm not sure if this is still an issue.

[Turtle]

The Asari Consort disappears in later games. So don't worry about her. Wasted character honestly.

They deal with Conrad in ME3 despite the bug in ME2, so don't worry about that either.

So just have fun with it.

[Purge]

TYVM.