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

Every time I load the game up it says to visit the marketplace because there is DLC.

Joe, are you sure you did 100% of the missions, did you visit every planet? Survey every galaxy, find all the writings/medallions/rare/light/heavy minerals/scan the keepers and do all that BS? I am pretty sure you have to do everything (not true as much for "completionist") to get the ally achs.

I'm moving through Vermire now and had every single assignment done so I'll be pissed if I dont get em. This game has me achievment whoring like crazy.

Did you all keep the same character on subsequent playthroughs? If so coudl you change his skills/hist/class?
 
[quote name='Staind204']joe2187: Do you remember what planet that was? I found it but I didnt have the item at the time and I forget where it was..[/quote]


Got it off a guide, the planet of Eletania, in the Hercules system of the Attican Beta cluster.


Yeah i did all the missions i got the Completed most of the game Achievement but thats it.
 
Hmm you got completioniist but didnt get the ally achs? thats wierd, did you change your team up much or keep the same two?
 
I just beat it. Earlier I decided to just use ashley and liara for the wrex and garrus missions since I'll prob give it another renegade playthrough.

I did get the soldier ally and asari ally ach' pts too, as well as tactician and completionist. I'm pretty psyched, finished in 32 hrs at level 50 I believe. I got 24 of 45 for 575. I got the soldier ally first around the (pretty big ending spoilers)
conduit and got the asari ally ach right before the final final fight with Saren in the citadel tower.

Great, fantastic fuckin game. Now I just need to figure out what my plan of attack is for the second playthrough. I'm gonna use garrus and wrex so gotta figure out what class would accompany them well. Also need to ponder what skill I'll add to my new game.
 
I found the easiest way to get the Ally Achievements is just to do as many of the side quests as possible without changing your allies, ever. I was able to get all of the achievements well before the final mission.
 
Yeah that jives with my experience Mindzeye pretty well: I didn't know about the ally achievments until partway through the first story mission (Therum IIRC). Up until then I changed my squad around a bit but figured I'd just keep ash and liara since I didnt feel like constantly leveling up/equipping all the squad members.

Its a good thing I started using them exclusively when I did fairly early on (and perhaps even necessary that I did Wrex and Garrus' unique missions using ash and laira) because while I got the "soldier ally" ach a few missions before the end, I didn't get Asari Ally until right before the final boss fight. I was relieved b/c I did make it a point to do EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY side quest. I mean every friggin one! Even then I didn't get it until the near the very end, but that's probably b/c I switched squad mates a little during the beginning.

GENERAL TIP: You don't have to go out of your way to decrypt every probe or scan every mineral deposit. I ended up having a 9/6 gasses, 25/20 asari writings, 24/20 light metals etc. So they do give you some extra's in case you miss a couple. Roaming around in the mako looking for ore deposits to pop up on your radar was a pain in the ass and evidently unnecessary.

Some Overall Impressions (like any of you care), but you're obviously interested enough to be surfing the ME thread so I'll continue to act like you care:

1. The sidequests were pretty repetitive and many were downright IDENTICAL (I don't mean similar, I mean IDENTICAL) which was a turnoff but I'll use the same logic I did to cmoplaints about Ass Creed being repetitive: Repetitive sex with a hotgirl may be repetitive, but its still fuckin awesome!!

2. The story....wow, just wow. I've never been too into the Sci Fi genre but it just opens up so much story possibilities its mind boggling. The end was great and the Story missions and planets were really really fun and varied greatly. 10/10!

3. Graphics: Meh, Great but to be expected, Not the same quality as Gears or Bioshock but as good as or better than Halo. 8/10.

4. Replay value: Fantastic! I can't wait to get home and start my next playthrough as renegade, I'm really looking forward to being a bad ass after behaving well the first playthrough. 10/10.

5. Difficulty: Meh, unbalanced at best. Unbalanced in a very bad way in the beginning (you get owned) and unbalanced in a very good way at the end (you own). It had a perfect balance of difficulty for about 5 hours in the middle.

6. Achievment whore? THis game is for you, it will keep you coming back for more, it pretty much takes FOUR playthroughs, (at least 3.5) to get everyone. I had a lot of fun trying to get some achievments.

Misc. comments: The complete lack of tutorials really pissed me off. I mean comeon, I'm new here, I may be a hardcore gamer but I still need SOME (albeit very basic) direction, what button does what etc.... This sucked and was just a major fuck up IMO. The interplay between pure RPG elements and the 3rd Person shooter elments really worked well and much better than any other game I'v ever played.

OVERALL SCORE: 9/10. Room for improvement but a nice start! Way to go Bioware, its an improvement from both baldur's gates and KOTOR (Gotta assume this since I've never played KOTOR).
 
Damn, Just the other night I was about to sell this game.. couldn't seem to get into it... Decided to pop it in randomly and holy crap, i can't put it down. I put in 3 hours tonight and i'm hooked. Orange Box and Bioshock can wait :p
 
[quote name='pittpizza']Hmm you got completioniist but didnt get the ally achs? thats wierd, did you change your team up much or keep the same two?[/QUOTE]

Same happened to me. I got completionist and no ally ach. I changed it up a lot for variety.
 
im kinda stuck at the moment, but im totally glad i got this game. its all kinds of awesome. one of the reasons i got my 360
 
I'm slowly chipping away at this game. I just want to sit down and play for 6 hours straight, but life doesn't allow that :lol:

I'm at The Citadel for the first time, and I'm wondering if it's going to benefit me at all to explore it? Or is it cool to just go right to where ever it is I need to go?
 
^^^ Ha ha, oh man that is awesome.

I just made a new colonist, ruthless, biotic and have been playing hardcore renegade being sure to keep intimidate maxed. Just one eden prime last night, I decrypted a little container room with some colonists and a doctor inside, some guy was acting crazy and I picked "I'll shut him up" and he just decked him it was great.

Playing renegade is just sooooo much more rewarding when you've just spent 32 hours on your first playthrough being nice to everybody.

Anyway if you change your squad around and experiment you won't get the ally achievments. I just loaded an old game to get the Ai hacking, it turns out that it counted all of the times I used it in later saves to the total b/c I loaded an earlier save, cast two hacks and the ach popped up. I was so releived b/c I didnt want to have to spent an hour just casting hacks.

As a biotic I plan on using wrex and garrus and this just seems like sucha perfect fit to play as renegade, Urdnot Wrex and I think alike, plus about 90% of the dialogues have been different since I'm giving renegade responses and Wrex and Garrus are just fuckin hilarous.

Especially Wrex, I was in Choras' Den near the beginning and we
went to talk to Fist's men, anyway I used intimidate to get em to betray fist and walk away. Wrex goes "It would have been quicker to just kill them."
Priceless.

[quote name='Ahadi']
I'm at The Citadel for the first time, and I'm wondering if it's going to benefit me at all to explore it? Or is it cool to just go right to where ever it is I need to go?[/quote]

It really depends, if you're going for the ally achievements, you shouldnt do ANY citadel assignments until you have your crew. If not, doing the citadel assignments early makes the rest of the game easier becasue you'll have leveled up several times just doing the assignments.
 
The person that posted beating it in 11 hours really missed out on this game! I'm 22 hours in, and have only done 2 of the 3 missions post citadel (Artemis Tau and Feros) as I've been making a point of doing ever sidequest that pops up, and only going onto the next mission when I'm done with all the sidequests (though I haven't found all the keepers yet, 17/21 there).

I'm about ready to do the next mission, have half an assignment to go--the one were you have to take out 4 geth bases in one system. I got the first two done last night, but was too late to do the other two.

Loving the game. I'm not really worrying about achievements, never really cared about them. Just trying to do everything and enjoy the game. As much as I love the game, I doubt I'll replay it anytime soon after finishing it. I tried replaying KOTOR as a Sith about a year after beating it and just couldn't get into it.

As for impressions, I've loved everything but the fact that the side quests are so repetitive, with many bases being identical etc., as pittpizza mentioned. Many of the planets you land on are too similar as well. But minor nitpick in a great game, and the sidequests are still fun regardless.
 
I have a question. Say you get tactition and soldier ally achs for example.

FAQs and Guide say in addition to Gamerscore points you also get 10% shields (for tactician) and 10% damage protection (for Soldier ally). Do these apply ONLY to subsequent playthroughs with the same character, subsequent playthroughs with a different character with a different class, only on playthroughs of the same difficulty level or what???

I am really hoping they apply to ALL subsequent playthroughs but am looking for clarification here.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']
It really depends, if you're going for the ally achievements, you shouldnt do ANY citadel assignments until you have your crew. If not, doing the citadel assignments early makes the rest of the game easier becasue you'll have leveled up several times just doing the assignments.[/QUOTE]

I haven't really taken a look at the achievements and I'm not really a completionest, so I don't know if I'm going to worry about grabbing all the achievements, especially on this play through. I guess once I get the story down and figure out the class system better, then I'll work for some of the achievements.
 
I thought that too at first Ahadi, but the game changed my mind for me.

If you change your squad up much you don't have to worry about getting the squad ally achs. I do suggest you do teh sidemissions though (just my opinion) as they add ALOT of game.

If you're not concerned about getting your ally's the missions for the ally achs, then go ahead and do the Citadel Assignments ASAP b/c it will level you up a few times and make subsequent fights easier. Keep in mind though, that some Citadel assignments take mulitple trips to the Citadel whereas others are not even available until later in the game (after you've completed some story missions).
 
Dammit, this game is crack!

Turned it on around 11 to finish off the Geth excursion sidequest, and here it is 2 am and I just finished playing!

That sidequest took longer than any others I've done thus far since you have to land on 5 planets to finish it. Then I didn't feel like quitting so I went back to The Citadel to polish of the scan the keepers quest. And of course I stumbled into 4 more side quests that I finished on the Citadel, and one more than I need to go to ther systems to do.

24.5 hours in and I still haven't went to my 3rd mission post-exposing Saren (will be Noveria for me)! Think I'm at level 36 now.
 
You can get to 50 on your first playthrough if you do everything. I was 50, had paragon pts maxed out, 9,999,999 (max) credits and finished around 32 hrs I think.

And this game is crack, it makes hours fly by b/c doing some of the things takes so long and there is soooo much to do. I'm level 10 now on my 2nd playthrough and am just finished (almost) all available citadel assignments before heading to find Liara. Wrex and Garrus are my crew this round and the conversation is MUCH better.
 
I'm really enjoying the game, and I appreciate everyone using the 'spoiler' buttons to hide important things. I don't want to read those story bits until i reach them in my first playthrough.

for anyone who is having problems, this is what I'm doing. I took the default male john character who is a soldier. I've been focusing on sniping, using the highest weapon upgrade available that helps with stability and ammo that is of greatest use against the target, ie Tung. rounds against Geth. I've been pretty much owning the whole way through, which leads me to believe the sniper rifle is pretty unbalanced.. I can kill ppl from beyond their gun's range, and if I miss, they don't usually take cover.

I'm all for the person who says they wish there was a tutorial... I'm 12 hours in and just found out that the RB brings up the 'powers'... lol I haven't need them yet :)

I've been running with 'tha ladies' as I call them, Ashley and ahh... the weird lady.. not the asari... the other one... anyways I haven't really found much use for biotics yet, so I have ashley for close combat support and I have the other lady for the various tech and electronics requirements and I do the sniping. It's been working but now that I know how to use biotics, I might have to make one for the second playthrough... whenever that happens :)
 
It's pretty much generally accepted that playing as a Soldier is the most approachable choice for newcommers or people who are nervous about getting into an RPG like this.

My first playthrough as an Engineer (on normal) was sometimes, but infrequently challenging and my second playthrough which i just started as a biotic on hardcore is pretty much the same. I can move through it pretty good but every so often I'll get my ass handed to me.

Has anybody here got 1000/1000 ach pts for this game?
 
[quote name='pittpizza']Has anybody here got 1000/1000 ach pts for this game?[/quote]
Got it about two weeks ago. Getting the AI hacking one was a pain in the ass.
 
[quote name='Advocatus']
I've been running with 'tha ladies' as I call them, Ashley and ahh... the weird lady.. not the asari... the other one... anyways I haven't really found much use for biotics yet, so I have ashley for close combat support and I have the other lady for the various tech and electronics requirements and I do the sniping. It's been working but now that I know how to use biotics, I might have to make one for the second playthrough... whenever that happens :)[/QUOTE]

I've been doing some what similar, minus sniping and Ashley.

I've stuck with the Assault Rifle with my default John Shepard, and just made sure to keep picking up more powerful once and use the highest level ammo appropriate for the target.

My party has been Liara and Tali. Liara for biotics as they help in battles when you get her leveled up, and Tali for the decyption and electronics stuff. I used Ashley a good bit the first 10 hours or so, but the realised it wasn't very balanced having 2 soldiers in the party so I switched (don't care about ally achievements).

For the most part I haven't had too many problems. Just some early on before getting leveled up and got the hang of the game. That and Wrex's mission.
 
Wow, Mrelusive, you're my hero. How many hours would you say it took you? How many career's and how many playthroughs?

Yeah the game definitely gets easier as you level up.
 
Had a more reasonable play session tonight. Just did the kill the two crime bosses side quest, along with exploring the three planets involved to night.

Finally cleared out my sidequests for the time being and ready to go to Noveria next time I fire up.

Well still have two of the collection side quests on going. Need one more League of One Medallion, and like nine more earths/metals surveyd to be done with all the collection quests.
 
Quick question...

I have a $25 gift card, and am debating using the 10% BB coupon to pick this up for $29 out of pocket. Is it worth it? Will it see a price drop soon? I read the book and liked it, been itching to play this game since it was announced.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']Wow, Mrelusive, you're my hero. How many hours would you say it took you? How many career's and how many playthroughs?[/quote]
I probably played for around 100 hours. Most of that was dicking around in my first playthrough though, which took me ~45 hours last time I remembered (making sure I talk to NPCs every single way, finding every mineral deposit, etc.). So I think getting the full 1000/1000 can be done in a lot less.

I've have had three careers and 3 full playthroughs + 2 playthroughs for getting remaining achievements (getting level 60 then getting my Engineer achievements).
 
[quote name='regisphilbi0']Quick question...

I have a $25 gift card, and am debating using the 10% BB coupon to pick this up for $29 out of pocket. Is it worth it? Will it see a price drop soon? I read the book and liked it, been itching to play this game since it was announced.[/QUOTE]

Its well worth full price IMO, much less for $29 out of pocket.

I wouldn't expect any price drops until fall. Maybe the odd sale between now and then.
 
Another ridiculous late night session!

Finished Noveria, got the completist and paragon achievments during that mission. Afterwards I randomly went around surveying planets and finished all the collection and survey side quests, and polished off a Rachni subquest I stumbled across randomly by landing on a planet.

For the first time my side quest list is completely clear! Landed at the site of the next mission and saved.
 
Ok, I just got the game and it seems like a majority of the game is just watching people talk....more like a movie than a videogame. Does it get any more involved later in the game? I've only played for a about 2 hours tops.
 
[quote name='doubledown']Ok, I just got the game and it seems like a majority of the game is just watching people talk....more like a movie than a videogame. Does it get any more involved later in the game? I've only played for a about 2 hours tops.[/quote]

It's a little slow to get off its feet but should start picking up once you leave the citadel.
 
[quote name='Draekon']It's a little slow to get off its feet but should start picking up once you leave the citadel.[/QUOTE]

I agree, once you leave the citadel it's about 50/50 talking and fighting/exploring planets/traveling the galaxy
 
Nailed Liara and beat the game tonight!. Fantastic game, easily a 10 for me, and easily my favorite game so far this generation and one of my all time favorites period. It just worked for me on every level from the story, graphics, dialogue/interaction, combat system etc.

Technically beat it twice I guess as I saved right before the end and I wanted to see the ending for
not saving the council. Are those the only 2 endings?

Will definitely replay it going the renegate route some time, but not right away. I beat it at level 50, and last save was a bit under 35 hours. I had my sidequests all completed, but I'm sure there were some I missed here and there (did get completionist though).
 
[quote name='doubledown']Ok, I just got the game and it seems like a majority of the game is just watching people talk....more like a movie than a videogame. Does it get any more involved later in the game? I've only played for a about 2 hours tops.[/QUOTE]


It never exceeds dialog/fighting being about 50/50. If you were expecting a lot more action, this game isn't for you. It's very story (dialog) driven.
 
Yep, in my opinion the mix of dialog and action are perfectly balanced. The dialog is especially great given all the options you have in conversation, and how much your decisions in certain places change outcomes. That system makes the dialog compelling, rather than just sitting and listen to people ramble on like in JRPGs or a Metal Gear Game.

But it is definitely not an action-oriented shooter game. If you're expecting that, you're not going to like it. Mass Effect is an RPG through and through, and is very dialog and story heavy. It just happens to have a nice, shooter-oriented combat system--which easily makes it my favorite RPG of all time. I don't think I'll be able to play another turn based game again after this, though I had already all but lost interest in such games anyway.

Edit: I'd also add, that people who skip side quests probably shouldn't bother with it, or at least only rent it, as the actual story missions are pretty short and you won't really get the full experience if you just stick to them. From what others posted, you're looking at 11-12 hours if you just power through, vs. 30-40 if you do all (again 35 or so for me).
 
Man i don't know if i'm doing something wrong but i keep on dying wicked many times. Maybe I should lvl somewhere but getting into missions with pretty much no chance of succes is really annoying..

Might be me just being a puss tho but i just wish missions would be given more once you've reached a certain lvl.
 
Front page of Kotaku features a video of Fox News EXPOSING Mass Effect's FULL NUDITY AND SIMULATED SEX. Absolutely ridiculous. The woman on the show says that adults don't play video games, their kids do!

God these people are complete idiots. "What happened to the days of Atari?"
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']"What happened to the days of Atari?"[/QUOTE]

240px-CustersRevenge.jpg


It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Front page of Kotaku features a video of Fox News EXPOSING Mass Effect's FULL NUDITY AND SIMULATED SEX. Absolutely ridiculous. The woman on the show says that adults don't play video games, their kids do!

God these people are complete idiots. "What happened to the days of Atari?"[/QUOTE]

Link to the video for the lazy: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/163925.html

God, listening to the "psychologist" made my head hurt. Then the panel literally caused my brain to fucking melt and drip out of my ears.

People Fox News experts should never discuss games they have never played, period.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Front page of Kotaku features a video of Fox News EXPOSING Mass Effect's FULL NUDITY AND SIMULATED SEX. Absolutely ridiculous. The woman on the show says that adults don't play video games, their kids do!

God these people are complete idiots. "What happened to the days of Atari?"[/quote]

Wow, there was less nudity in there than you would see in a PG-13 movie or any television show on at prime time and they're spinning it as full frontal nudity and simulated sex? Count my waffle as roffl'ed.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']

Edit: I'd also add, that people who skip side quests probably shouldn't bother with it, or at least only rent it, as the actual story missions are pretty short and you won't really get the full experience if you just stick to them. From what others posted, you're looking at [highlight]11-12 hours if you just power through[/highlight], vs. 30-40 if you do all (again 35 or so for me).[/QUOTE]

You're kidding!? I'm at 8 hours and I just left the Citadel (did 2 other systems in the last 1-2 hours of the 8). I did have to back off of one encounter because I was getting swarmed and killed before I could even blink (the biotic terrorists on the ship in the asteroid belt). Then I went and did an uncharted world that wasn't too hard and am now on Artemis Tau or whatever it is called. I'm making my way through that by way of the Mako's big gun. I wouldn't last long if I tried it on foot. I'm about level 12 now FWIW.

A question - when does the "naughty" bit happen? I did all I could on the Citadel before I went out and did a bunch of sidequests there but nothing like this ever seemed to come up. I just want a rough idea of when to expect it because my son is watching me play off and on and clearly, despite it being more tame than Fox would suggest :roll:, I certainly don't need him seeing that part!

I'm not liking the shooter parts too much (still prefer turn-based RPGs and Mass Effect won't change that preference - have a hard time thinking of this as an RPG, really, but I like it nonetheless). I wish there was more exploration/discovery than there is, though I was happy when I left the Citadel and was presented with 8 or so systems to travel to at my leisure. Of course I went right for some of the ones NOT part of the main quest first ;). I like that sort of thing. I do like combat from the Mako though - kind of reminds me of Chromehounds just a bit.
 
[quote name='Draekon']Wow, there was less nudity in there than you would see in a PG-13 movie or any television show on at prime time and they're spinning it as full frontal nudity and simulated sex? Count my waffle as roffl'ed.[/quote]


I can't believe how ignorant these people are. They call themselves reporters? I'm impressed at Geoff. I watch his bonus rounds and enjoy what he and other have to say and to see him take a stand against those 2 soccer moms was great.
 
[quote name='Callandor']Link to the video for the lazy: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/163925.html

God, listening to the "psychologist" made my head hurt. Then the panel literally caused my brain to fucking melt and drip out of my ears.

People Fox News experts should never discuss games they have never played, period.[/quote]

I can't believe how ignorant these people are. They call themselves reporters? I'm impressed at Geoff. I watch his bonus rounds and enjoy what he and other have to say and to see him take a stand against those 2 soccer moms was great.
 
[quote name='io']You're kidding!? I'm at 8 hours and I just left the Citadel (did 2 other systems in the last 1-2 hours of the 8).
[/quote]

It took me 35 to beat, and I did every sidequest I came across and had none uncompleted when I finished (got the Completionist achievement).

But yes people have beat it in 11-12 hours just by powering straight through the Missions, and not doing many (if any) assignmens. Seems like a stupid way to play the game to me, as the side quests add a lot IMO, and doing them makes the game much easier as you level up a ton and find a lot of good equipment, and plenty to sell to buy anything you want.

A question - when does the "naughty" bit happen?
Click to expand...

Toward the middle or a little before you may be confronted by two of your females asking you to pick between them. It's a cutscene that comes up on it's own, so you can't miss it. As for the actual "naughty" bit, it's at the very end and again will be a cutscene that comes up between missions on it's own, so you can't miss it.

Just make sure you talk to Liara and Ashley a lot (i.e. in the ship after every mission (not assignment and they generally don't say anything new in between side quests for the most part) otherwise they may not develop an interest in you.

Of course I went right for some of the ones NOT part of the main quest first ;). I like that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

That was the great part of the game. I did EVERY assignment that was completeable in my Journal before going onto the next story mission throughout the game. I loved it (including the combat as I hate turn based RPGs anymore) and wanted to stretch it out, plus it was a nice way to level up and make the actual missions very easy.
 
That news report really pissed me off too. They just flat out blatantly lied about the game and that is fucking ridiculous.

Full nudity, choose to have sex? They obviously never played the game and anybody who has (unfortuantley probably less thatn 1% of the people watching Fox) would know they're full of shit.
 
Wow hootie, rarely do I lol at shit I see on the internet but that was fucking hilarious. Wow. Epic.

I think what did it was "Ahhhhhh!!! They're raping us!!! They're raping us and it hurts!!"
 
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