Mass Effect 2 Discussion - Fight for the Lost

I'm really hating the Paragon/Renegade system.


Particularly where it relates to the Jack/Miranda fight and Samara/Morinth. I'm on my renegade playthrough, and despite having nearly 80% on the renegade bar I wasn't able to recruit Morinth. I decided to reload and do other stuff, but I'm at a point where there's nothing left but two loyalty missions (Samara and Miranda) before the derelict Reaper. Some people have reported needing 100% paragon or renegade to recruit Morinth, while some claim to have done it with significantly less (as little as 10% according to one walkthrough at GameFAQs).

Some claim that the points needed scales with your level and/or progress in the game. Well, I have little control over my level, especially after completing the game once (bonus experience - currently at level 26). I've only done two side missions so far. The only reason I did those was to trigger the Horizon mission. I was planning on doing the rest after everyone was loyal. Perhaps I should have done Samara's mission before the others?


I wish someone from Bioware would fill us in on exactly how the system works, or admit that it's glitched.
 
I have to say I really liked the Pargon/Renagade system in the first game. This one I don't like so much. In ME I had almost a full Pargon and just the Renagade that I started with and by the end of the first game had both option in almost every conversation I had. In ME2 you don't get the two talents that seem to add to the dialog options. I forgot what they were called but it had to do with buying and selling stuff.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']I'm really hating the Paragon/Renegade system.


Particularly where it relates to the Jack/Miranda fight and Samara/Morinth. I'm on my renegade playthrough, and despite having nearly 80% on the renegade bar I wasn't able to recruit Morinth. I decided to reload and do other stuff, but I'm at a point where there's nothing left but two loyalty missions (Samara and Miranda) before the derelict Reaper. Some people have reported needing 100% paragon or renegade to recruit Morinth, while some claim to have done it with significantly less (as little as 10% according to one walkthrough at GameFAQs).

Some claim that the points needed scales with your level and/or progress in the game. Well, I have little control over my level, especially after completing the game once (bonus experience - currently at level 26). I've only done two side missions so far. The only reason I did those was to trigger the Horizon mission. I was planning on doing the rest after everyone was loyal. Perhaps I should have done Samara's mission before the others?


I wish someone from Bioware would fill us in on exactly how the system works, or admit that it's glitched.[/QUOTE]The system is very much not glitched and currently works "as intended" by the team. If you want a simplified version of the very technical/complicated Paragon and Renegade system of ME2, then here you go:
[quote name='Kim Stolz, BioWare']There are potential Paragon and Renegade points throughout the game. When the user arrives in an area (ie: Omega) the game registers every single Paragon or Renegade decision that can be made and increases the difficulty of the persuade system based on these potential points. If the user collects all of these points (either Paragon OR Renegade) they break even - they can almost never get ahead of the system (you can only keep apace). If the user misses these opportunities to collect all of the points, the game still keeps these points you missed - so the player will actually start to fall behind. If the player falls behind it is very difficult and almost impossible to catch back up, because everywhere you go more potential points are being mounted against you and making the persuasions more difficult. So when you arrive at the most difficult persuasions in the game (i.e. Jack and Miranda) where you are already at a disadvantage due to the difficulty of the persuade and the fact that these potential points that you missed are stacking up against you to make it even more difficult, you are going to fail it (i.e. it's easier to Renegade persuade those two and Paragon persuade Legion and Tali). This is not because of a bug in the system, but because it's how it was originally designed.

What I think a lot of people aren't realizing is that when you import an ME1 save you get a pretty major bonus to the Paragon or Renegade scale which makes the persuades incredibly easy. When you start an ME2 New Game +, you are working from a clean slate.

It's incredibly difficult - but that's the point. It was meant to be the equivalent of the Kaiden/Ashley choice in Mass Effect 1, except this this time there is the possibility of saving both[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']The system is very much not glitched and currently works "as intended" by the team. If you want a simplified version of the very technical/complicated Paragon and Renegade system of ME2, then here you go[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the clarification. I just finished Miranda's mission
and was able to break up the fight
with a little more than 80% renegade. I'll be re-doing Samara's mission later.
I'm hoping 80% is enough for Morinth, because I've taken every possible renegade option up to this point. There's no way to increase the meter further unless I do the IFF/Legion missions first, but I risk sacrificing the crew if I go that route.
 
[quote name='Allnatural']Thanks for the clarification. I just finished Miranda's mission
and was able to break up the fight
with a little more than 80% renegade. I'll be re-doing Samara's mission later.
I'm hoping 80% is enough for Morinth, because I've taken every possible renegade option up to this point. There's no way to increase the meter further unless I do the IFF/Legion missions first, but I risk sacrificing the crew if I go that route.
[/QUOTE]I'm not sure what passive ability you're using, but try respec-ing to the 100% Paragon/Renegade bonus passive ability for your class before doing that mission. If you have been using the 70% bonus passive ability up to that point, then that respec should put you over the mark.

If you've already tried this or if you've already been using the passive ability that gives you the 100% bonus, then nevermind. Also, don't forget about pieces of armor that give you a negotiation bonus - like the Death Mask (+10%).
 
Do you get a benefit for going 100% renegade or Paragon? ie. special unlocks?

Also is there any way to fail a loyalty mission? By that, I mean not gaining the loyalty of a team member because you wanted to do something "Paragon" but what they were asking you to do would provide a "renegade" result? It's become increasingly frustrating as I'm trying to go 100 Paragon, but alot of these loyalty missions seem to be forcing me towards Renegade because I want my teammate's loyalty and I want that achievement on the first playthrough as IDK if I'll actually ever get around to the 2nd playthrough.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Um. Does the Death Mask work on the Normandy? I've never actually checked that out...[/QUOTE]Highly doubtful.

That bit of advice was for the Samara loyalty mission but, now that I think about it, I realized that you're not even wearing it when
talking to Morinth
:dunce: My bad.

At least the respec-ing option should help, assuming that the 70% bonus skill is currently being used and not the 100% one.

[quote name='A Happy Panda']Do you get a benefit for going 100% renegade or Paragon? ie. special unlocks?[/QUOTE]Like in-game bonuses? No. Going as polar as possible (Paragon/Renegade) only helps you with dialog confrontations and settling disputes. I'm sure it'll be a transfer bonus for ME3, though.
 
[quote name='A Happy Panda']
Also is there any way to fail a loyalty mission? By that, I mean not gaining the loyalty of a team member because you wanted to do something "Paragon" but what they were asking you to do would provide a "renegade" result? It's become increasingly frustrating as I'm trying to go 100 Paragon, but alot of these loyalty missions seem to be forcing me towards Renegade because I want my teammate's loyalty and I want that achievement on the first playthrough as IDK if I'll actually ever get around to the 2nd playthrough.[/QUOTE]
You can fail:

Zaeed's by going the Paragon route (freeing the workers) but not having enough paragon points to persuade him it was the right thing.
Tali's by giving the court the evidence against her father.
Uh... I think that's it, actually.
Oh! You can fuck up Thane's, too. I think you have to fail at tracking the assassination target.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']You can fail:

Zaeed's by going the Paragon route (freeing the workers) but not having enough paragon points to persuade him it was the right thing.
Tali's by giving the court the evidence against her father.
Uh... I think that's it, actually.
Oh! You can fuck up Thane's, too. I think you have to fail at tracking the assassination target.
[/QUOTE]

So Zaeed's is the only loyalty mission you can fail directly as a result of choosing
paragon?
?

All the other ones, as long as you don't fuck up, whether you choose the paragon or renegade dialogue doesn't matter?
 
Correct.

If you go the paragon route in the two Tali-related missions earlier (helping out her two teammates on Horizon and her recruitment mission), you don't even have to pass the paragon/renegade check, as you can just get them to talk for you. Hell, you can even get her loyalty if you just let her get exiled, though I'm sure that will have repercussions in ME3.
 
I've been playing ME1 again and I've notice a couple things that I miss. I miss being able to replenish medi-gel when you get back to the ship. I do miss the mako a bit. It just needed tighter controls and maybe speed up the shield regen a little. I do miss ME1's weapon system. It is nice not having to worry about clips. I wouldn't mind if they combined them, so that your weapons aren't useless without the clips. The shotgun and heavy pistol ran out pretty quick when I used them.

That info about the paragon/renegade system was interesting. I didn't know that it tallied the points like that. I had a full paragon from my ME1 save and I had a full paragon through a good chunk of ME2. I'm planning on doing the same thing on this new Shepard, but I'll get at least 1 renegade bar. If I can choose Morinth with just 1 renegade bar, I can do the glitch to get Dominate while keeping Samara.
 
Here's an updated and more detailed look at my preferred builds for each class on Insanity:

Adept:
Heavy Warp - 4
Throw Field - 4
Wide Singularity - 4
Pull - 1
Shockwave - 0
Nemesis - 4
Area Drain - 4


Reasoning:
The main theme of this build is what is sometimes called the Warp Nuke, which is hitting an enemy or group of enemies trapped in a Singularity with Warp causing a large detonation which not only packs a large punch but also has a large blast radius. The Nemesis specialization is key if you are looking to extend the damage of said detonations even further. The Throw ability is very nice to have in some places throughout the game - places with ledges, specifically. Wide Singularity is key for trapping as many enemies as possible and for providing the largest radius for your Warp detonations. The only reason I included Area Drain (maxed form of Energy Drain) was to give the Adept some help against Shields and synthetic enemies, plus it's nice to sap enemies shields to boost yours.

For complete video guides on using the Adept on Insanity, check out this thread on the BioWare forums.

Recommended squadmates:
Miranda - extra Warp and Overload
Mordin - Incineration Blast (very good for early levels like Horizon, works well with Singularity)
Thane - extra Warp and Throw
Samara - Pull (a set-up for Warp/Throw) and Throw

Bonus weapon:
Anything you want it to be - the Adept really doesn't focus on gun combat, so the Shotgun, Assault Rifle, and Sniper Rifle are all equally worth getting.

Engineer:
Area Overload - 4
Incineration Blast - 4
Attack Drone - 4
Full Cryo Blast - 4
AI Hacking - 0
Demolisher - 4
Armor-Piercing Ammo - 1


Reasoning:
A maxed out Overload is absolutely necessary for any Insanity playthrough. Area Overload makes more sense to take with you because of it's radius, and the fact that Tech Damage upgrades will boost its damage past a basic Heavy Overload. Using the same line of thinking, take Incineration Blast to help your Engineer out against enemies with Armor or who are down to Health. The Attack Drone not only provides the best distraction in the game (or, as I like to say, is the best squadmate in the game) but also deals out damage to enemies. Full Cryo Blast is an excellent form of crowd control. Use it against Husks, Varren, and even Krogan once they are down to Health and quickly get rid of them - remember, while a target is frozen, they receive double damage. Rounding out the class is the damage-based Demolisher specialization and one point into AP Ammo for a boost (+30%) in damage to enemies with Armor or no defenses.

For complete video guides on using the Engineer on Insanity, check out this thread on the BioWare forums.

Recommended squadmates:
Miranda - Warp (covers your weakness against Barriers)
Grunt - Incendiary Ammo, his role as a tank/damage dealer, and his occasional charge
Thane - Warp and for damage dealer role
Jack - Warp Ammo and ability to knock enemies out of cover

Bonus weapon:
Sniper Rifles - makes the most sense if you are the type of Engineer who sits back and debuffs enemies.
Shotguns - makes the most sense if you are an aggressive Engineer.
Assault Rifles - make up for your Barrier weakness.

Infiltrator:
Heavy Disruptor Ammo - 4
Cryo Ammo - 0
Assassination Cloak - 4
Incineration Blast - 4
AI Hacking - 1
Assassin - 4
Tungsten Ammo - 4


Reasoning:
Heavy Disruptor Ammo (+60% damage against synthetics or Shields) + Tungsten Ammo (+70% damage against Armor and Health) give you superior damage against 99% of the enemies you will encounter throughout the game. I prefer the increased weapon damage, longer Sniper Slowdown duration, and increased power damage of the Assassin passive ability. Also, I think Assassination Cloak goes hand-in-hand with the Assassin specialization. Incineration Blast is for crowd control (Husks, Varren) and the one extra point into AI Hacking is much more useful than one point into Cryo Ammo.

Recommended squadmates:
Miranda - team bonuses and Warp
Grunt - taking out point blank enemies (Husks, Varren) and for tank role

Bonus weapon:
Widow Sniper Rifle - strongest Sniper Rifle in the game

Sentinel:
Throw - 1
Warp - 0
Assault Armor - 4
Area Overload - 4
Full Cryo Blast - 4
Raider - 4
Area Reave - 4


Reasoning:
Assault Armor is recommended here because of the fact that your Tech Armor will drop somewhat often, and sometimes the pulse it sends out once it's been destroyed can save your life. Overload is a must for Insanity, because of the sheer number of enemies who either have Shields or who are synthetic. Full Cryo Blast is your crowd control ability - best used against Husks, Varren, and Krogan (once their defenses drop) for double damage. The Raider specialization gives you the power damage that you sacrifice by choosing Assault Armor over Power Armor. Reave is, in some ways, an upgraded form of Warp. It does double damage to Armor and Barriers, and also replenishes some of your health when used on organic enemies with no defenses. The one point in Throw is the only place left to rank up.

Recommended squadmates:
Miranda - extra Warp/Overload and team bonuses
Mordin - Incinerate

Bonus weapon:
Sniper Rifles - allow you to hit enemies who are out of range of your wide array of abilities.
Shotguns - for the more aggressive Sentinel; works well with Tech Armor.

Soldier:
Hardened Adrenaline Rush - 4
Concussive Shot - 1
Heavy Disruptor Ammo - 4
Squad Incendiary Ammo - 4
Cryo Ammo - 0
Commando - 4
Tungsten Ammo- 4


Reasoning:
The main reason in selecting Hardened Ad. Rush over Heightened is because Hardened allows you to take 50% less damage to your health when active. Concussive Shot gets the remaining point, and can be use in combo with Pull to send enemies flying. Heavy Disruptor Ammo takes care of any synthetic enemy or one with Shields (+60% damage to both). Squad Incendiary Ammo is specifically for teammate usage. The Commando specialization is for pure damage-dealing. Tungsten Ammo helps you take out enemies with Armor (+70% damage) and enemies with no defenses.

Recommended squadmates:
*highly situational*
Miranda - team bonuses and Warp/Overload combo
Jack - crowd control (Pull Field/Improved Shockwave)
Mordin - crowd control (Incineration Blast/Full Cryo Blast)

Bonus weapon:
Assault Rifles - the Revenant Light Machine Gun is arguably the most badass gun in the game. With an 80-round clip and high damage per shot rating, you'll mow through enemies once you upgrade this gun.

Vanguard:
Incendiary Ammo - 2
Squad Cryo Ammo - 4
Heavy Charge - 4
Shockwave - 3
Pull - 1
Destroyer - 4
Tungsten Ammo - 4


Reasoning:
I'll begin with the abilities that are maxed out. Squad Cryo Ammo is very important and it gives your teammates the ability to snapfreeze enemies as you working your way through the enemy defenses with Charge. Heavy Charge is the way to go here for the extra bonus you do whenever you charge, as well as the increased shield gain you receive each time. The Destroyer specialization gives you a 15% increase in both weapon damage and power damage, which both do wonders for your Charge + Shotgun combo. Tungsten Ammo helps a lot in the few seconds after a Charge where you may need to remove the last bit of protection an enemy has and/or waste them with the Eviscerator. The two points in Incendiary Ammo are required for maxing out Cryo Ammo. However you'd like to handle Shockwave and Pull are up to you.

The Vanguard class is the only class in ME2 that I believe suffers from a poor arrangement/setup. If some abilities were shifted around, you'd have the ability to max out another skill such as Shockwave or Pull.

Recommended squadmates:
Miranda - Warp/Overload combos to make up for your lack of protection-removing abilities
Thane - Warp and long range damage capabilities
Garrus - Overload and long range damage capabilities
Zaeed - Concussive Shot and long range damage capabilities
Legion - Combat Drone and long range damage capabilities

Bonus weapon:
Sniper Rifles - good choice for anti-armor capabilities
Assault Rifles - good choice to help take down Shields and Barriers




***Quick explanation for some abilities: when it comes down to selecting the "Heavy" variant of an ability versus the "Area" variant, I prefer having the "Area" effect. The reason is simple: through research you can always upgrade the power of your Biotic/Tech powers, but you can never increase the radius of any specific ability.
 
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A note on Miranda as a common teammate: I don't really like her for Collectors. She's a good all-purpose character because of her passive bonuses, her warp, and her overload, but you never need overload against Collectors, so I usually replace her with Samara (reave) in those cases. Also, never underestimate the meatshielding capabilities of a fortified Grunt.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']A note on Miranda as a common teammate: I don't really like her for Collectors. She's a good all-purpose character because of her passive bonuses, her warp, and her overload, but you never need overload against Collectors, so I usually replace her with Samara (reave) in those cases. Also, never underestimate the meatshielding capabilities of a fortified Grunt.[/QUOTE]For Collector fights it depends on my class.

For a Vanguard, Soldier, or Infiltrator I most certainly want Miranda out there for the extra weapon damage.

For an Adept, Engineer, or Sentinel I like switching her out with Thane for Warp and because he deals out more damage (plus Throw comes in handy for
the infamous "trap" fight
).
 
You know, I've never had trouble with the trap fight. Evar. Granted, I've only insanity-ed it once, with my New Game+ soldiersniper...
EDIT: Incidentally, I used Miranda for that, 'cause I hadn't done Samara or Thane's loyalty missions yet...
 
[quote name='The Crotch']
You know, I've never had trouble with the trap fight. Evar. Granted, I've only insanity-ed it once, with my New Game+ soldiersniper...
EDIT: Incidentally, I used Miranda for that, 'cause I hadn't done Samara or Thane's loyalty missions yet...[/QUOTE]I've only had trouble with it once, due to poor leveling of my Soldier and a bad choice of teammates. Instead of loading up a former save to correct these issues, I toughed it out over like 15-16 tries. With any other playthrough it's been a breeze.
 
I have a question about the final mission
I'm not there yet, but I'm working my way through the loyalty missions. I just watched the inside xbox video on this, and it mentioned even if you finish the loyalty missions, it might not be enough. It gave the example of selling out Tali. I'm guessing if you don't get Samara's daughter to come back with you that's another instance. Anything else I need to watch out for?

Oh, it also mentioned you have to be either extremely good or bad. Well, when Miranda and Jack were fighting, I didn't have any extra options, am I already screwed out of surviving because I had casual sex with Jack and didn't mediate properly between them? That would blow.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']I have a question about the final mission
I'm not there yet, but I'm working my way through the loyalty missions. I just watched the inside xbox video on this, and it mentioned even if you finish the loyalty missions, it might not be enough. It gave the example of selling out Tali. I'm guessing if you don't get Samara's daughter to come back with you that's another instance. Anything else I need to watch out for?

Oh, it also mentioned you have to be either extremely good or bad. Well, when Miranda and Jack were fighting, I didn't have any extra options, am I already screwed out of surviving because I had casual sex with Jack and didn't mediate properly between them? That would blow.
[/QUOTE]Regarding your questions:
You need to watch out for any arguments (like the one you mentioned between Jack and Miranda). If you didn't have the chance to settle it during the confrontation and had to choose a side, go back to the other person later once you have more Paragon/Renegade and make them loyal again. It also helps to respec your stats and choose the passive ability that grants you 100% to your Paragon/Renegade bonus, instead of just 70% (assuming you don't already use that). Don't worry about trying to bring back Morinth from Samara's loyalty mission, as you can only have one (Samara or Morinth).

Also, without giving anything away, you really need to be knowledgeable about each squadmate on your ship and what their strengths/weaknesses are. For example: Miranda is shown to be a good tactician/leader within Cerberus, Garrus successfully led a small band of mercs to take down some of Omega's crimelords, and Jack has unmatched biotic abilities. Knowing things like this for each person will help you when it comes to things like the suicide mission...believe me.

One more point: just because someone isn't loyal doesn't exactly 100% guarantee their death in the end, but you really have to work to avoid that - and, for the most part, everything has to fall into place for him/her to make it out alive. It's best to try and win someone back if you weren't able to settle any disputes they were in.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']I've only had trouble with it once, due to poor leveling of my Soldier and a bad choice of teammates. Instead of loading up a former save to correct these issues, I toughed it out over like 15-16 tries. With any other playthrough it's been a breeze.[/QUOTE]

Pssst! I have a secret...If you ever get stuck on a mission and are are fucked by poor team mate selection; just restart the mission and pick new squad mates!

Seriously, people never think about this option. There is no reason for shitty team mates to be an excuse, especially on the trap in the collector ship because there is no fighting up until the trap. Just restart and walk back through the level!
 
[quote name='RichMeisterMan']Pssst! I have a secret...If you ever get stuck on a mission and are are fucked by poor team mate selection; just restart the mission and pick new squad mates!

Seriously, people never think about this option. There is no reason for shitty team mates to be an excuse, especially on the trap in the collector ship because there is no fighting up until the trap. Just restart and walk back through the level!
[/QUOTE]I mentioned in my post that I didn't want to load up any former saves (restart mission option = former save) to correct my bad selection of teammates. I realize that when someone is in that predicament and they do not choose to restart the mission, that they are in one of two groups - either they:

1. Are too hard-headed to start over and/or are determined to make it work, regardless of any decisions they made, because they like the challenge.

- OR -

2. They are "too stupid/oblivious/unintelligent/retarded/n00b-ish" to know that there is an option to do that.

In this case, I am honored that you decided to insult my intelligence (and my 200+ hours of logged gameplay) and place me in the second group.
 
LOL.

Just ignore him. It's the same guy that copped a hissy fit with me a couple of pages back for a post I made about the Collector Ship.
 
Finally got a chance to put in a few more hours last night. Closing in on finishing my renegade female Shephard play through.

Finished up loyalty quests and all the N7 and other sidequests. Now just need to do the IFF mission and the stuff beyond that and I'm done until DLC.
 
What is with this talk about Miranda's passive Squad Damage boost? So if you have her on your team you do more damage (how do you tell)? Does anyone else do things like that?
 
[quote name='DarkNessBear']What is with this talk about Miranda's passive Squad Damage boost? So if you have her on your team you do more damage (how do you tell)? Does anyone else do things like that?[/QUOTE]
Seriously? lol.

Her passive skill (called something like Cerberus Operative) gives a boost to squad defense and attack. It says it right in the description...
 
[quote name='DarkNessBear']What is with this talk about Miranda's passive Squad Damage boost? So if you have her on your team you do more damage (how do you tell)? Does anyone else do things like that?[/QUOTE]As you level up Miranda's passive ability (Cerberus Officer) your squad gains bonuses to their health and weapon damage (Rank 1: +2.5%, Rank 2: +5%, Rank 3: +7.5%).

When you max out her passive ability, you have the option to increase the squad health to 15% (Cerberus Tactician) or to increase the squad weapon damage up to 15% (Cerberus Leader), while the opposite stat retains the 7.5% increase.

As she is the only person in the game who can give your team that bonus, she's invaluable for some classes/difficulties. Another thing that puts her over is the fact that she can receive 31 squad points in the game (allowing you to max out Overload, Warp, and Cerberus Officer). Jacob is the only other squadmate that can receive that many squad points.
 
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Well... it's not so much that she and Jacob get more points, it's that they get more free points. The other squadmates all have 30, but one is locked up in their loyalty skill, no?
 
Just popped in to say thanks to all everyone here posting tips. I've been reading since a few months before launch and only sharing a little, but really appreciate the discussion. I finally finished it (had an E74 and needed to actually finish ME1 myself) and this thread was a lifesaver at times.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']Seriously? lol.

Her passive skill (called something like Cerberus Operative) gives a boost to squad defense and attack. It says it right in the description...[/QUOTE]
Never really looked at it and everybody else had no such thing So I found it odd.

Also, I don't look that into the game. It's not THAT deep and I'm amazed by the amount of people here dishing out stats like it's DA or Starcraft. Insanity is not THAT hard. I appreciate the effort those that are detailing the stats ect. but it's not important to me. Dragon Age on the other hand... damn I need help with that.
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']As you level up Miranda's passive ability (Cerberus Officer) your squad gains bonuses to their health and weapon damage (Rank 1: +2.5%, Rank 2: +5%, Rank 3: +7.5%).

When you max out her passive ability, you have the option to increase the squad health to 15% (Cerberus Tactician) or to increase the squad weapon damage up to 15% (Cerberus Leader), while the opposite stat retains the 7.5% increase.

As she is the only person in the game who can give your team that bonus, she's invaluable for some classes/difficulties. Another thing that puts her over is the fact that she can receive 30 squad points in the game (allowing you to max out Overload, Warp, and Cerberus Officer). Jacob is the only other squadmate that can receive that many squad points.[/QUOTE]

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Seems to be the ultimate squad mate then, glad I had her along for most of the game. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
[quote name='The Crotch']Well... it's not so much that she and Jacob get more points, it's that they get more free points. The other squadmates all have 30, but one is locked up in their loyalty skill, no?[/QUOTE]That was a typo that I just now caught. Miranda and Jacob - 31, everyone else - 30.

[quote name='DarkNessBear']Wow, that's pretty crazy. Seems to be the ultimate squad mate then, glad I had her along for most of the game. Thanks for clearing that up.[/QUOTE]She's the perfect woman and the perfect squadmate :cool:

[quote name='blueweltall']Playing my 2nd game with Vanguard and it's badass![/QUOTE]This gets a big thumbs up.
 
[quote name='blueweltall']What extra squadmate ability should I choose for my Vanguard Class? I'm just playing on Veteran right now, maybe insanity later...[/QUOTE]On Insanity I always recommend AP Ammo (because sometimes you need all the help you can get to penetrate enemy defenses).

However, on Veteran AP Ammo is completely unnecessary. You can really choose whatever you think looks fun to complement all the biotic abilities that the Vanguard has. Reave is an excellent form of Warp that lets you sap enemy health (and stuns them for a few seconds, allowing you to Charge them). Slam is fun because it not only dishes out damage but incapacitates enemies afterwards (again...Charge!). The only negative to choosing an offensive power like Reave or Slam is that you have to wait for the cooldown to attempt a Charge.

Any sort of shielding (Barrier, Fortification, Geth Shield Boost) is unnecessary on Veteran difficulty.
 
Starting my insanity playthrough and I actually switched to an adept from a vanguard. I played a vanguard in ME1, but I don't like how to Vanguard plays in this game. It seems that charge makes you so vulnerable that by the time it's safe to use it, there are too few enemies left to justify it as a key power. Without the weapon restrictions, it seems best to just choose the class that has the abilities you want and you can choose the bonus ability and weapon per your play style.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']Starting my insanity playthrough and I actually switched to an adept from a vanguard. I played a vanguard in ME1, but I don't like how to Vanguard plays in this game. It seems that charge makes you so vulnerable that by the time it's safe to use it, there are too few enemies left to justify it as a key power. Without the weapon restrictions, it seems best to just choose the class that has the abilities you want and you can choose the bonus ability and weapon per your play style.[/QUOTE]I fully support any Adept playthrough in this game. I believe that the Adept really shows off how great the combat system is.

I'm not sure how extensive your knowledge of the Adept class is or how much you prefer to look at any sort of guide for how you play a game, but there are two videos I really like to pimp out whenever someone says they are trying out the Adept on Insanity (if you feel you know enough or don't like to get extra help, then nevermind these videos - and sorry for any implications about your ME2 skill :)):

Advanced Biotic Combos

Fighting Geth/Shields/Synthetics
 
Would anyone be interested in a ME2 Dragon Armor code for $10 Paypal? My roommate doesn't want it and I've already beaten the game. PM me if you'd be interested.
 
[quote name='Yamato']^ Or you could throw it up in a contest.[/QUOTE]

^This.

I'd love a fair shot at DA but nowhere near enough to pay for it. I've already spent more than enough on the CE plus I'm not terribly crazy about the current selection of armor anyway.
 
[quote name='Yamato']^ Or you could throw it up in a contest.[/QUOTE]

It's not my decision or my code, I'm only offering to sell it for him.

*Edit - just asked and a contest is not gonna happen. He'd rather sell it on eBay than give it away. I tried.
 
Finished my 2nd playthrough as a Renegade, female Adept (after my main playthrough as a male, paragon soldier. Had a blast with it again. Didn't go full on renegade, had a bout 75% of the renegade bar full, but was enough to keep everyone loyal, and everyone lived as in my main playthrough. Also got all the specialist achievements done, so I have all the achievements except for insanity playthrough which I won't get.

Just over 24 hours, with doing everything--much better than my 43 hour first playthrough. Didn't spend as much time mining obviously, still had a lot of minerals left over. Also x'd through a lot of conversations that were the same so that saved a lot of time too as I listened to every thing the first time through. Hit level 30 on the last loyalty quest before the suicide mission--the extra 25% comes in handy on a second playthrough, only got to 28 on my main playthrough--hope to get it up to 30 with DLC.

Will spoiler the rest, end game etc.

Tali was exiled, but kept her loyal, didn't have enough renegade to win her case. Also didn't have enough to solve her fight with Legion, but did have enough to get Legion's loyalty back after the fight.

So main decision changes I have in this from my main game are--Tali Exiled, Destroyed the Geth Heretics (rewrote them in my paragon) and gave the Illusive Man the Reaper base rather than destroying it.

Can't wait for the DLC!
 
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[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']I mentioned in my post that I didn't want to load up any former saves (restart mission option = former save) to correct my bad selection of teammates. I realize that when someone is in that predicament and they do not choose to restart the mission, that they are in one of two groups - either they:

1. Are too hard-headed to start over and/or are determined to make it work, regardless of any decisions they made, because they like the challenge.

- OR -

2. They are "too stupid/oblivious/unintelligent/retarded/n00b-ish" to know that there is an option to do that.

In this case, I am honored that you decided to insult my intelligence (and my 200+ hours of logged gameplay) and place me in the second group.[/QUOTE]

I didn't mean to lump you into a category. I was unaware there was some kind of benefit or desire to not load a save or just restart when it was obvious the squad mates you had with you were totally useless.

Congratulations on your 200 plus hours though.

[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']LOL.

Just ignore him. It's the same guy that copped a hissy fit with me a couple of pages back for a post I made about the Collector Ship.[/QUOTE]

You advice to complete the mission went something like this, "All you have to do is kill all the bad guys. and dodge all their attacks. I don't understand why people are having such a hard time."

My problem with that is that you can break ANYTHING down into something that simple. What you said did nothing but seemingly degrade people that had trouble with the part; while offering no real advice.
 
It was personal opinion not actual advice if I recall correctly so I guess that may explain your ridiculously juvenile reaction to it. Either way what's done is done so we might as well leave it at that.
 
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[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']It was personal opinion not actual advice if I recall correctly so I guess that may explain your ridiculously juvenile reaction to it. Either way what's done is done so we might as well leave it at that.[/QUOTE]

Oh yeah, it definitely wasn't advice; we can agree on that.

When someone makes a comment like yours though they usually back it up by relaying some kind of information as if to help those you have had trouble with the part. Usually with more detail than just dodge the attacks and shoot the bad guys.
 
:roll:

Anyway...

[quote name='rywateska']It's not my decision or my code, I'm only offering to sell it for him.

*Edit - just asked and a contest is not gonna happen. He'd rather sell it on eBay than give it away. I tried.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for trying and I don't blame him. He'll probably make a decent buck there.
 
I ended up buying an inferno code (instead of a terminus one) like an idiot for 10 bucks. However, once my copy got here, I sold the code in it for 26, so I did alright.

After having used the blackstorm weapon, I'm glad I bought the terminus code.
 
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