Mass Effect

[Pumpkin]

So I just picked up Mass Effect 2 and 3. Any tips or advice for me? Can I have lady character? Are the games difficult? PS3 versions, also, in case that matters!

Thanky :jess:

[Formalhaut]

Have you played Mass Effect 1 yet? If you can, I would recommend playing the first one if only because a few plot points may be confusing. Thinking about it, starting with 2 wouldn't be so bad as compared to jumping straight into 3, but I would still recommend playing Mass Effect 1.

You can purchase it as a digital download, if you're interested.

As for difficulty, I played on 'Casual', and I never found it a massive challenge. Some sections were, at times, slow and ponderous, though that's more a commentary on my cautious style of playing than anything else.

It also depends on what class you pick: I seriously would not recommend starting as a Vanguard, as that necessitates riskier, close combat situations. It all depends on your favorite way of playing, but I never regretted going as a Sentinel. You get some solid defense and core combative skills, while maintaining the SMG as a dependable firearm. I found that you couldn't go wrong.

And yes, you can have Fem Shep. To be honest, she's the better of the two; her voice acting is far superior.

[Pumpkin]

I talked to the gentleman at the gamestop and he said it's okay to start with 2 because they give like a recap or something? So hopefully it turns out alright. It's installing right now, very excite!

Thank you for the advice, I'll steer clear of Vanguard whenever I learn what that is >.<

[Ayen]

Yeah, the game is pretty easy on casual. I was able to plow through 1 and 2 as a soldier pretty well.

Loyalty missions are important. If you don't want a character to die, be sure to fulfill their loyalty mission.

Having paragon/renegade points saved for certain dialog options are pretty handy. There are a couple of moments in the second one when they put you in the middle of a confrontation and if you have to choose one side you lose the other person's loyalty, but can charm/intimidate your way out of it if you have enough points. It's annoying. I can't remember if you can hold off doing that person's loyalty mission so you can get it later. I think it only happens afterwords.

[Formalhaut]

Fair enough! Starting with 2 should be okay, although a few characters that you could bring over from 1 will not be present in 2. I'd personally play Mass Effect 1, but it is perfectly possible to play through 1.

I am surprised that you only have 2 and 3. On the PS3, they released the Mass Effect Trilogy a year or two ago which had all three games.

[Pumpkin]

2 and 3 were in the bargain bin along with skyrim so there you go! 20$ for 4 games! It was an excellent deal. sharky got some plane game I dunno

[Formalhaut]

2 and 3 were in the bargain bin along with skyrim so there you go! 20$ for 4 games! It was an excellent deal. sharky got some plane game I dunno

I think it's something like $15 or something on the Playstation Network. It's not obligatory, but I do feel for such a story-driven game which relies very much on importing your current story from the previous game to create a tapestry of choices, that it is worth considering Mass Effect 1.

Having said that, Mass Effect 2 is for me the best game in the series so :monster:

[Pumpkin]

I might get the first one but honestly I dont want to spend any more money on the series until I know if Ill even like it. Sorry :shobon:

[Fox]

You don't really *need* to play 1, it is far inferior to 2 and 3 in terms of its game mechanics. Obviously I'd recommend looking at a bit of a story primer though - the overall plot gets recapped well enough at the beginning of 2 I think, but knowing who the characters are will help. It's actually one of the better series when it comes to strong characters, creating emotional attachment and all that good stuff, so it might be a bit weird going into 2 without context for any of them.

[Pumpkin]

Sure I can look some stuff up!

[Pumpkin]

I chose the Sentinel class as Formy suggested. I am very much not good at the combat system! I do like all of the options you get. I got some of those paragon/renegade points but I dun know how to use them. I guess they'll explain it when it comes up? I also made a decision with that guy who gave me info about whether to take him with me for interrogation or send him with the other person. Hopefully I made the right decision

[FFIX Choco Boy]

There aren't really "right" decisions in Mass Effect. It boils down to a morality system, basically. And all the best perks to it only really pop up if you side very strongly with one side or the other.

[Skyblade]

I chose the Sentinel class as Formy suggested. I am very much not good at the combat system! I do like all of the options you get. I got some of those paragon/renegade points but I dun know how to use them. I guess they'll explain it when it comes up? I also made a decision with that guy who gave me info about whether to take him with me for interrogation or send him with the other person. Hopefully I made the right decision

Paragon/Renegade points aren't "spent". They just build up, and they alter how the world sees your character. There are also certain dialogue options which are exclusive to one side or the other.

[Pumpkin]

Alrighty well I did not know that!

[Skyblade]

Alrighty well I did not know that!

That's why I was letting you know. Otherwise you'd be confuzzled forever.

Unfortunately, Mass Effect 2 heavily incentives choosing one side over the other. Because the Paragon/Renegade system is based off of a percentage system. Every time you come to a choice that can give you Paragon or Renegade points, the game looks at what you select. If you try to split half and half evenly, it'll lock you out from most of the Paragon/Renegade specific dialogue options, because it doesn't note you as being either side specifically.

This was done instead of a pure point system (IE: This dialogue options requires X many Paragon points) to allow you to play the missions in any order. If they used a strict point system, most missions would have to either be tackled in a specific order, or be accessible to starting levels of Paragon/Renegade, which ruins the entire point of the options playing to your characterization. However, the chosen method does mean that you're better off choosing one side and sticking with it if you want to access all the extra dialogue options (especially some of the harder persuade/intimidate points that heavily influence the story).

[Randy]

1 is the best for story, by quite a way. But yes you can start with 2 as the story is largely independent. I played 2 first.
You should definitely go back and play 1 before playing 3 though.

Oh and make sure you get all the DLC for 2. It's excellent and nearly doubles the length of the game.

[Mirage]

If a recap is sufficient, then you might as well just read a recap of the entire trilogy!

The first is my favourite. Except the inventory management.

i would defo not skip 1 unless it was impossible for you to play it. there is a ps3 version but i think you need to buy all three as a trilogy collection on ps3. don't think you can buy it individually

you can on xb360 but then you can't transfer the save file. that's not a big problem though.

[Formalhaut]

Yes, go either full paragon or full renegade, though I'm a good guy, so I went full savior of the worlds on everyone.

[Ayen]

Man, I always acted accordingly to my situation. No wonder I never had enough Paragon/Renegade points for certain scenes. Curse my need for balance!

[DMKA]

I really have to disagree with the people who say you don't need to play 1. Some of the most important events in the series and the most ground shaking decisions you make happen in the first game.

I personally prefer male Shepard over female Shepard because Jennifer Hale's voice is like nails on a chalkboard at many points in these games for some reason (she's usually a fantastic voice actress). But in the first game I have to say femshep has way better facial features and stuff you can choose from. It's really hard to make a good looking male Shepard in the first game. Also, it looks like they just swapped out a hastily rendered male upper body on the same female lower body in the first game, which sucks too. I think male Shepard was an afterthought when they were making the first game, honestly. :p

[Jessweeee♪]

Ahh I loved Jennifer Hale, especially on Renegade plays.

You'll be okay playing Mass Effect 2 first. It's what I did. The first one is great, aside from a couple of cheesy moments, definitely go back to it someday! To reiterate what others have said, you'll wanna be pure paragon or pure renegade in ME2 because the morality checks are pretty tight. In the first game you can unlock both Charm and Intimidate if you play it just right. But in ME3 you can go back and forth between the two all the time without giving it any thought because you can choose either as long as your total of both kinds of points are high enough. You could literally go 50/50 without consequence.

[Night Fury]

Male Shepard was an afterthought as he wasn't supposed to happen... I'm sure shep was meant to be female and then they changed it!

[Fox]

I always disliked the Paragon/Renegade points stuff, especially in 2. The thing with Shepard is that she's a leader, and being a good leader doesn't just mean being nice and lovely all the time. You gotta find a balance. Picard was one of the most mellow Starship Captains you could ever asked for but he was scary as all hell if you crossed him.

So I always play Mass Effect in a situation by situation manner. It also means on repeat playthroughs I never see any of the branching paths, because I always make the same decisions each time! This is why I never get excited when I see a game has "50 million different endings" because I am only ever going to see one of those.

[Pumpkin]

I'm just choosing options based on what I would do or say in the situation. I'm leaning heavily in one direction but have a few points on the other. A lot of the colourful options have come up. I just did all of the dossier missions and things. I do feel rather overwhelmed with everything. I don't like the combat and I'm very bad at it and the upgrades are kind of overwhelming also. I do like the different dialogue options and a few of the characters

[Ayen]

I always disliked the Paragon/Renegade points stuff, especially in 2. The thing with Shepard is that she's a leader, and being a good leader doesn't just mean being nice and lovely all the time. You gotta find a balance. Picard was one of the most mellow Starship Captains you could ever asked for but he was scary as all hell if you crossed him.

So I always play Mass Effect in a situation by situation manner. It also means on repeat playthroughs I never see any of the branching paths, because I always make the same decisions each time! This is why I never get excited when I see a game has "50 million different endings" because I am only ever going to see one of those.

The Picard Maneuver is the best way to play these games.

[theundeadhero]

Combat does take some getting used to in this series. At first it's awkward and clunky but you get used to it. Then, before too long, it doesn't bother you any more. All the ammo/armor/whatever upgrades can be overwhelming though. I generally just pick one for each character and then replace it with a higher level of the same because I don't care enough to min/max every single time I get in a fight.

[Del Murder]

Playing 1 after 2 and 3 is challenging because the gameplay is a lot rougher in the first game. I'm actually playing ME1 for the first time right now and although it has all the space travel and character building I love about this series, the actual fights are really hard because I am used to the more smoother mechanics of the later games. I guess I got spoiled!

[Ayen]

Playing 1 after 2 and 3 is challenging because the gameplay is a lot rougher in the first game. I'm actually playing ME1 for the first time right now and although it has all the space travel and character building I love about this series, the actual fights are really hard because I am used to the more smoother mechanics of the later games. I guess I got spoiled!

Tell me about it. I started off with 2 too and then went back to 1. Then I got used to the controls of the first game and had to learn the second all over again.

The Neverending Learning Curve!

[Pumpkin]

Something I will say that I appreciate are some of the moral dilemmas presented. It's not super obvious "this is right and this is wrong" but a lot of the times just kind of "this is kind of bad and this is also kind of bad in a different way but uh pick one of them". It makes you think about things a bit more and I quite enjoy that aspect of it

[Shiny]

You should play 1 first.

[theundeadhero]

This thread made me want to play through the Mass Effects. Renegade femshep is always the way as in Infiltrator. Space is no place for a syrupy-sweet buttercup. While listening to some Michael Graves era Misfits over the weekend it amused me how much of the music could be applied to this game :p

[Pumpkin]

It's suicide mission time


I is sacred :ohdear:

[Del Murder]

The suicide mission is one of those great gaming experiences that really allows your decisions throughout the game to have real consequences. It's possible for all your characters to survive the mission and I think it's even possible for all of them (even Shepherd) to die (though I could be wrong about that since some of them are ME3 characters).

[Ayen]

No, you're right. It's possible for everybody to die and if that happens your game won't carry over to 3. Joker would be the only survivor.

[Pumpkin]

EVEN EDI?!

[Pumpkin]

All of my playable characters survived but about half of my NPC crew died :( I didn't realize that was the end of the game, I thought there was more afterwards. Any tips for Mass Effect 3? Will they let me change my hair? I want to change my hair.

[Del Murder]

Pretty sure you can reskin your entire character each game.

[Mirage]

that sounds about right

[Formalhaut]

Noo, not the NPC crew. Wait, don't tell me the lovely Dr. Karin Chakwas died in those gooey vat tanks? :ohdear:

[theundeadhero]

Well, I beat ME1 again. Time to move on to two. I love fall break.