Mass Effect - Gen. Discussion & Info - Pinnacle Station DLC Now Available 400pts

How's the DLC in this game? I know I got one of them (Bring Down the Sky), in the greatest hits disc, however, I heard that Pinnacle Station won't work with the platinum hits edition. Can anyone fill me in?
 
Pinnacle Station is almost entirely story-less, and what there is, isn't interesting. It's nothing but combat, and of that, I found only the final fight interesting...
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Pinnacle Station is almost entirely story-less, and what there is, isn't interesting. It's nothing but combat, and of that, I found only the final fight interesting...[/QUOTE]
I'm one of those OCD who has to get like every DLC. Did they at least fix the issue with it not being able to play?
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Pinnacle Station is almost entirely story-less, and what there is, isn't interesting. It's nothing but combat, and of that, I found only the final fight interesting...[/QUOTE]From everything I've heard about it, I keep thinking that they were testing out some ideas with ME2 on the design with Pinnacle Station, since it seems so much less like ME1 and more like ME2.
 
[quote name='matto1233']I'm one of those OCD who has to get like every DLC. Did they at least fix the issue with it not being able to play?[/QUOTE]Yes. I have the Platinum Hits edition as well and was able to install Pinnacle Station after Bring Down the Sky with no problem.

In other news, I ended up playing through again as an uber-renegade sentinel. I'm glad I did because I was able to see how major scenarios played out differently. The renegade dialogue is so over the top that it frequently made me laugh. Just started ME2 yesterday. Wish me luck. =]
 
[quote name='shrike4242']From everything I've heard about it, I keep thinking that they were testing out some ideas with ME2 on the design with Pinnacle Station, since it seems so much less like ME1 and more like ME2.[/QUOTE]
I don't think that's quite accurate. Pinnacle Station is just a bunch of endurance/speed runs using the ME1 game mechanics. Aside from ME2 being (perceived as?) heavier on the fighting, I don't really see how the two connect.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']I don't think that's quite accurate. Pinnacle Station is just a bunch of endurance/speed runs using the ME1 game mechanics. Aside from ME2 being (perceived as?) heavier on the fighting, I don't really see how the two connect.[/QUOTE]That's just my view on it, since it's perceived as a more combat-oriented.
 
I'm at the citadel on female shepard playthrough. I read in the ME guide that the geth dropship would keep spawning enemies, or am I wrong? I'm at level 56 or 57 and was going to use that to get to level 60. I've done both DLC and all the side quests. I'm probably not going to do a second run though for a while. It's time for a break from ME.
 
I just started Eden Prime on a third playthrough with this Shepard, and I'm about to hit level 57. Does anyone know about how long it takes to get to 60?
 
If you do Completionist playthroughs (and have Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station), it should only take you two full playthroughs on Normal difficulty to reach level 60. Of course, this only works if you have beaten the game prior to beginning this new level 60 character run (because of the level 50 cap for first playthroughs).

With that being said, you should be able to hit 60 pretty easily - if you have both DLC packs and you complete an overwhelming majority of the game.
 
I'm playing on Casual, and not being super completionist (I just made sure to play at least enough to get two ally achievements on each playthrough). If I can get to 60 early in this third PT, I'll probably just stop there, but if it's going to take a big chunk of the game to get to 60 anyway, I may stick it out until I grab the achievements for Kaidan and Tali, so I'll have the full set. :)
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']If you do Completionist playthroughs (and have Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station), it should only take you two full playthroughs on Normal difficulty to reach level 60. Of course, this only works if you have beaten the game prior to beginning this new level 60 character run (because of the level 50 cap for first playthroughs).

With that being said, you should be able to hit 60 pretty easily - if you have both DLC packs and you complete an overwhelming majority of the game.[/QUOTE]
Is that level cap for your very first playthrough or the first playthrough of that character? I have a level 60 male vanguard Shepard and was working on a level 60 female Shepard. I was playing on Veteran and doing a completionist run. I was expecting to be closer, considering how I played. I even killed most of the stuff without the mako.

I'm wondering if the guide was mas mistaken about the Geth dropship deploying an endless stream on enemies. It stops after awhile and doesn't start dropping more if you go away.
 
I hit level 50 on a single playthrough on Normal, hitting 50 when I landed on the Citadel at the end. Since I did everything for side missions and N7 missions, I should be able to hit level 60 on the 2nd playthrough if I did all the same again.

erewhon, the level 50 cap is for first playthrough only. Level 60 is the max cap in the game.
 
It's impossible to get to level 60 in 2 playthroughs. You have to start a third to get it.

I was in the same boat as you after playthrough 1. On playthrough 2 I did every side quest, scanned every planet and mineral, went through both DLC's (which weren't out when I played the game originally) and everything all over again (I have the guide,) and ended up just barely getting to level 59 (got that right before the final fight with Saren.) This was also from playing the game (except for Pinnacle Station) on Hardcore difficulty.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']It's impossible to get to level 60 in 2 playthroughs. You have to start a third to get it.

I was in the same boat as you after playthrough 1. On playthrough 2 I did every side quest, scanned every planet and mineral, went through both DLC's (which weren't out when I played the game originally) and everything all over again (I have the guide,) and ended up just barely getting to level 59 (got that right before the final fight with Saren.) This was also from playing the game (except for Pinnacle Station) on Hardcore difficulty.[/QUOTE]Well, that's mildly annoying that you can't do level 60 on 2 playthroughs. Maybe with the 2nd playthrough on Insanity with the XP bonus.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']It's impossible to get to level 60 in 2 playthroughs. You have to start a third to get it.[/QUOTE]It's not impossible, as I've done it 5+ times (3 of which were between December '09 - January '10; so they are fresh in my mind and not something I may have forgotten about).

I've even seen rumors that you can get to level 60 in your very first two playthroughs, but I haven't confirmed that for myself.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']It's impossible to get to level 60 in 2 playthroughs. You have to start a third to get it.

I was in the same boat as you after playthrough 1. On playthrough 2 I did every side quest, scanned every planet and mineral, went through both DLC's (which weren't out when I played the game originally) and everything all over again (I have the guide,) and ended up just barely getting to level 59 (got that right before the final fight with Saren.) This was also from playing the game (except for Pinnacle Station) on Hardcore difficulty.[/QUOTE]
If you have the DLC, you can get it in 2 playthroughs. I did my vanguard in two. Well, it was my third playthrough of the game in total. I did my first playthrough on a separate character two years ago.
 
[quote name='erehwon']If you have the DLC, you can get it in 2 playthroughs. I did my vanguard in two. Well, it was my third playthrough of the game in total. I did my first playthrough on a separate character two years ago.[/QUOTE]

I still say it's impossible unless the bonus to xp is a lot higher on insanity than it is on hardcore. Playthrough 1 was normal finished at level 50 with completionist achievement. I took same character through on hardcore (minus Pinncale Station because it's impossible to fully beat on anything above normal) and I got to level 59 right as I started the final boss fight. Did every side quest and collected every mineral and artifact a second time.

I have the DLC and all that did essentially was get me to level 59 vs. finishing the game at 57 or 58. Two other Ragtag CAG's (joe2187 and shan82) couldn't get to level 60 with 1 character in 2 playthroughs either.

Also note this is the only 2 times I played Mass Effect. I never made a second character. I will at a future time, but not right now.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']I still say it's impossible unless the bonus to xp is a lot higher on insanity than it is on hardcore. Playthrough 1 was normal finished at level 50 with completionist achievement. I took same character through on hardcore (minus Pinncale Station because it's impossible to fully beat on anything above normal) and I got to level 59 right as I started the final boss fight. Did every side quest and collected every mineral and artifact a second time.

I have the DLC and all that did essentially was get me to level 59 vs. finishing the game at 57 or 58. Two other Ragtag CAG's (joe2187 and shan82) couldn't get to level 60 with 1 character in 2 playthroughs either.

Also note this is the only 2 times I played Mass Effect. I never made a second character. I will at a future time, but not right now.[/QUOTE]We're talking about two very different things here.

You're talking about hitting level 60 on the subsequent playthrough of your first character, and we're talking about hitting level 60 on the second playthrough of another character aside from your first one.

The former (what you're talking about) is widely considered to be impossible, but there's rumors floating around that it is. The latter (what erehwon and I were posting about) is most certainly possible.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']I took same character through on hardcore (minus Pinncale Station because it's impossible to fully beat on anything above normal) [/QUOTE]

Actually, I have done it on Hardcore. I hadn't played ME in quite some time when Pinnacle Station came out and I decided to go for my Hardcore playthrough at that time (wanted to start knocking out the last achievements). I had no idea how tough it would be much less that it would scale. So I didn't know any better. I think it took 2 full nights to beat.
 
Yep. It's definitely not impossible to beat PE on Hardcore & Insanity difficulty. Insanity is a mega bitch because most of the enemy spawns are horribly flawed (Volcanic map for the fail) but doable. There honestly should have been an achievement attached for the time I wasted completing it during my very first and thankfully last Insanity play-through. I'd only make a second attempt if money, a tour of Bioware offices, or a small VA part in ME3 were up for grabs. Yes... it's that brutal.
 
You have more patience than I do. I got 2-4 of the first 8 challenges for PS done on hardcore but after trying for a day to advance any further, I said screw it and turned the difficulty down to normal.
 
Ha. Meanwhile, on casual difficulty I couldn't beat the survival challenges because the enemies could not kill my party, period. Even when I put the controller down and let them just take potshots, my shields regenerated faster than they could shoot me.
 
In preparation to play ME2, I'm playing through Mass effect a 2nd time to refresh myself on the story and to get my Shepard character to lvl60 for the highest starting bonus in ME2.

I figured while I'm going through it I may as well pick up a few extra achievements on the way, most specifically 2 new ally achievements (I went through ME1 the first time with the two human allies you start with) and the 2nd playthrough plus the hardcore playthrough achievements.

Anyhow, as I did a very complete playthrough the first time, and did all the side missions, including exploring all the planets, etc. I don't need to do that again to experience the story. Just go back through the main plot to save on time.

But the ally achievements, it says that you must complete "most of the game" to get the points. If I just go pretty straight through and only do the main/biggest plotlines, will I get the ally achievements? Or do I need to do (at least some) side missions as well to complete "most of the game", similar to what is needed for "Completionist"? I read the 360achievements.org guide section but it wasn't terribly clear if I needed to go out of my way to do some side missions or not.

Ruahrc
 
You need to do most of the game... as in side missions. Depending on the actual allies you still need, you may want to recruit them as early as possible/save side missions so that they'll accompany you on them. DLC missions also help add to the tally for the requirement. There's no absolute guide for these achievements, and so the exact requirements have been in question since release. For certain characters, like Liara, you may need to do almost all side missions.
 
Man talk about confusing!

So if I understand it right, there is no way I'm going to be able to get to lvl60 by doing just one more playthrough of the game? Because my current char is lvl50 and it's not possible to go from 50 to 60 in one run-through without using insanity and doing all the extra stuff + DLC? And to get the insanity option it requires an extra playthrough to unlock anyways. It's possible with a new character but that would still necessitate a further 2 playthroughs.

What if I did a subsequent two rush playthroughs of the game with the same char (total of 3), would I get to lvl60 then? Or do I need to go through and do a lot of the side missions still because of the amount of XP required?

I might just give up on lvl60 and the ME2 lvl5 bonus and do a quick playthrough to re-experience the story and set up the appropriate actions for the save file transfer, then do side missions until I unlock the ally achievements, then finish the game.

Ruahrc
 
No one I know of has been able to get to Level 60 in 2 playthroughs of the same character (original +1.) I did every single quest both times (DLC only on the 2nd playthrough as my first one was when the game originally came out) and ended the game at level 59. Check a few posts back in the thread as we argued about this recently.

Also it's nearly impossible to beat the Pinnacle Station DLC on anything harder than Normal because the times you need to beat the simulations in don't scale for the difficulty so even on just Hardcore it's insanely hard. Only Ink.So.Well has been able to do it that I know of on CAG.

That still irks me as that caused me to not get the Hardcore achievement on my 2nd playthrough. Had I known I wouldn't get to 60 anyway, I would have just left it.
 
[quote name='Ruahrc']Man talk about confusing!

So if I understand it right, there is no way I'm going to be able to get to lvl60 by doing just one more playthrough of the game? Because my current char is lvl50 and it's not possible to go from 50 to 60 in one run-through without using insanity and doing all the extra stuff + DLC? And to get the insanity option it requires an extra playthrough to unlock anyways. It's possible with a new character but that would still necessitate a further 2 playthroughs.

What if I did a subsequent two rush playthroughs of the game with the same char (total of 3), would I get to lvl60 then? Or do I need to go through and do a lot of the side missions still because of the amount of XP required?

I might just give up on lvl60 and the ME2 lvl5 bonus and do a quick playthrough to re-experience the story and set up the appropriate actions for the save file transfer, then do side missions until I unlock the ally achievements, then finish the game.

Ruahrc[/QUOTE]
I can guarantee that you won't hit level 60 in your second playthrough with your first character, especially with no DLC or 100% completion, because it's impossible. Three playthroughs (in addition to bumping up the difficulty) will likely do it for you, but it's been a long time since I've played through with no DLC and I've never done quick playthroughs and recorded how much XP I gained.

To do the 2-playthrough level 60, you're going to need the XP boosts from certain achievements in the game, a respectable difficulty, and a completionist's mindset. DLC really helps with that goal, also, as they are a goldmine for XP.

At level 50, you're not even 1/3 the way (XP-wise) to level 60 - just for reference.

[quote name='MSUHitman']Also it's nearly impossible to beat the Pinnacle Station DLC on anything harder than Normal because the times you need to beat the simulations in don't scale for the difficulty so even on just Hardcore it's insanely hard. Only Ink.So.Well has been able to do it that I know of on CAG.[/QUOTE]What!?

Pinnacle Station's not bad - you just need to learn where the enemies spawn at on the time trail-esque missions and use good tactics to move through the area in time. I've beaten it at least six times on Insanity (3 lvl 60 playthroughs that I prepared for ME2)...probably more.
 
It took me until Therum on the fourth playthrough to get a character to 60. That was only getting 75-80% of the assignments completed each time though.

It's not all that bad timewise though. You can do a speedy PT of Mass Effect 1 in 10-12 hours without too much fuss, and that's with going for Completionist/Ally achievements.
 
So I'm getting near the end of playthrough #2- I just have Vimire to do in the main story before going to Ilos. I have gone pretty much straight through so far- except when I first got to the citadel I ran around and collected a lot of assignments and completed the ones I could without having to leave. Other than that though (and completing all the assignments on the respective planets you visit) I have not done any of the "exploration" style sidequests which require you to travel to certain systems.

I have just passed 500k exp... my plan was to play through Vimire and then do assignments until I got the "ally" achievements for the characters I'm using, then finish the game. I'm wondering though, if I took this character and moved into a 3rd playthrough, how much XP do you need to end the game with in order to get to lvl60 on a 3rd playthrough?

Seems like I have earned about 260,000XP so far in this second playthrough (gone from lvl50 at 238k to 500k), and assuming you can earn about the same amount of XP for the next playthrough, seems like I'm relatively on track to reach lvl60 on 3 playthroughs? Does anyone know roughly how many XP you gain on a single playthrough, be it "bare-bones" or pretty complete?

I've started getting out of the Mako tank to kill things for the XP bonus, mainly because I'm powerful enough now that it is not that difficult and I almost find it easier since I seem to have trouble being accurate with the tank cannon. Actually I really only do it with big things like Armatures because for the smaller guys the XP bonus doesn't seem worth it. I'm swimming in items and money, I have 9999999 credits and 999 omni gel and a lot of surplus mods/etc. It's a shame when I have to reduce level X items to omni gel or sell them for "0" money because I can't hold any more hehe.

Ruahrc
 
Whew I did it! Finished the third playthrough of this char today at lvl60. No it didn't take me this long to play through on insanity, I took a break between playthroughs 2 and 3. I am also a little ashamed to admit that I didn't discover until about halfway through my second playthrough that you could use the X button to skip dialogue. That ready helped speed things along since I already knew what everyone said.

It was not hard at all to get to lvl60 on playthrough 3, I hit 60 probably halfway through (second plot world or so). Actually once I hit 60 things moved a lot faster as I started to just skip through areas not intending to kill everything or open every chest. Like all those areas where you have to drive the tank through bad guys like on Virmire, I just drove straight through because I had max XP and money anyways. Sure made the tank run on Ilos pretty easy too.

I also found it not difficult to get the ally achievements. I was expecting that I would have to do a lot of the side missions but really I just did all the activities on the plot worlds and the citadel and beyond that only needed a few side missions to get those achievements. BTW I do have the bring down the sky DLC which was included in the platinum hits version of the game I have. The hardest two to get were Garrus and Liara (both whom I used on the 3rd playthrough) but they weren't bad considering I ended up doing a fair number of extra assignments anyways to set up the conditions I wanted for mass effect 2.

The only achievements I have left now are all the casting ones but I'm not going to bother because if you add them all up thats like 825 individual castings?! Maybe one day if I'm bored hehe.

Oh yeah Udina's a jackass i don't see how anyone would nominate him for the Council after the things he did to you, and I killed Ashley because she was a xenophobe. Poetic justice then that I made her die defending the nuke while I went off to save Kaidan and a bunch of aliens :)

Ruahrc
 
[quote name='Ruahrc']
Oh yeah Udina's a jackass i don't see how anyone would nominate him for the Council after the things he did to you
[/QUOTE]
I can definitely see Udina's appeal. From a certain perspective, he is the one who will get things done no matter who it hurts or how ruthless he has to be; while Anderson is more of a diplomat who might delay action by trying to build consensus. Sort of an embodiment of the Paragon/Renegade divide really.
 
I'm knee deep in a thorough ME playthrough right now. After seeing how not into it Anderson was in ME2, I'm strongly considering going with Udina this time around. Does anyone know if it changes ME2 much if you go with one vs. the other?
 
It doesn't really change anything other than the conversation you can have on the Presidium. After seeing how it played out both ways, I haven't been back to the Presidium at all on subsequent playthroughs because going there has no effect, gameplay or plot wise, on anything else that goes on in the game.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I can definitely see Udina's appeal. From a certain perspective, he is the one who will get things done no matter who it hurts or how ruthless he has to be; while Anderson is more of a diplomat who might delay action by trying to build consensus. Sort of an embodiment of the Paragon/Renegade divide really.[/QUOTE]

Get things done??? Did we play the same game? Only thing he really did was get you a hearing with the coucil in the beginning of the game. He then sold you up the river as you kept pressing the Council about the Reapers, and when it started to be a political problem for him; he threw you aside like trash and rolled over for the council. Whereas Anderson identified the real threat (the reapers) and volunteered to put his life in danger (if you choose to have him sneak into the hangar bay or wherever to disable the lockdown on the Normandy) so that you could get out of the Citadel and stop the Reapers.

I would have shot him on my renegade playthrough if I had the chance. Even on my renegade playthrough when I elected for an all-human council I think I made sure to exclude Udina from the new council.
 
[quote name='Ruahrc']Get things done??? Did we play the same game? Only thing he really did was get you a hearing with the coucil in the beginning of the game. He then sold you up the river as you kept pressing the Council about the Reapers, and when it started to be a political problem for him; he threw you aside like trash and rolled over for the council. Whereas Anderson identified the real threat (the reapers) and volunteered to put his life in danger (if you choose to have him sneak into the hangar bay or wherever to disable the lockdown on the Normandy) so that you could get out of the Citadel and stop the Reapers.

I would have shot him on my renegade playthrough if I had the chance. Even on my renegade playthrough when I elected for an all-human council I think I made sure to exclude Udina from the new council.[/QUOTE]


Good points, but are you doing Anderson any favors by putting him a position he hates? He clearly loathes being in this position of power.
 
I decided that I need to play through this and 2 a couple time before 3 comes out. I never took advantage of the game plus option before so I had a few questions about it.

If I play through the first time as a renegade would I lose those points on my next play through?

What exactly carries over to a new game plus?

Can you edit class and appearance in a new game plus?
 
IIRC the only things that transfer on a new game+ is the XP and equipment/inventory. I am not sure about being able to change class/appearance I don't recall being able to do so.
 
I just imported a freshly made pretty much default male Shepard into ME 2 and it DOES give you the option to change class and appearance.

Also once you hit level 60 or beat the game once, does the game allow you to get higher then level 50 on playthrough 1? My male Shepard was level 53 when I beat the game.
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Also once you hit level 60 or beat the game once, does the game allow you to get higher then level 50 on playthrough 1? My male Shepard was level 53 when I beat the game.[/QUOTE]The initial playthrough is capped at level 50, any subsequent playthroughs (even the first playthrough for a new character) is not capped. I believe level 58 is about as high as you can go in one playthrough, though. Hitting 60 in one playthrough is not possible (without using the XP glitch).
 
Question for you guys:

I just got done playing mass effect 2, I liked it allot and I am wondering if I liked this one will I also like ME1? I checked out a video review and it mentioned lots of glitches, is that true?
 
It's not as polished as ME2. There are some issues with frame rate and textures, plus some questionable gameplay decisions that generally got ironed out or fixed in 2. But in terms of story and characters it's phenomenal, and if you liked ME2 a lot for those reasons you'll like ME1 also.
 
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