Game: Mass Effect 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geTD0gWh8w0

my body is ready guys

plot:
"Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth."

The player's choices in the previous games are expected to have a much more significant impact on the plot than the choices in Mass Effect had on Mass Effect 2. As Mass Effect 3 is the end of the planned trilogy, the developers are not constrained by the necessity of allowing the story to diverge, yet also continue into the next chapter. This will result in a story that diverges into wildly different conclusions based on the player's actions in the first two chapters

The story between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 is planned to be told through DLC for Mass Effect 2. The Lair of the Shadow Broker downloadable content is the first piece of DLC to begin to expand the story in preparation for Mass Effect 3.

source: ME-wiki

Fuck yeah!

I'll just need to do a proper re-play of ME2 before 3 comes out... been a while since i played it...

This is going to be awesome!

I should probably get around to finishing that Insanity run I've been keeping off for awhile now...

This and the new Elder Scrolls next year...

My interest in video games will be revitalized. :D

So... ya'll heard the news that Origin is required to play any PC version of ME3 ?

Seems to be the way of things as EA tries to get in on the online distribution market. Still, ME3 looks like it's very much worth playing.

So... who cares?

Exactly. I play it on the xbox360, so I really don't care.

But I won't miss the opportunity to make an argument. ;)

I know there is this big anti-Origin circle-jerk campaign (usually in favor of steam), which I still don't understand, because steam does the exact same things, but seriously, Origin is not that bad. You're either locked into one Publisher/Vendor or a different Publisher/Vendor. They both spy on you. Valve lures you into impulse purchases for quick cash via promotions that really don't get you much aside from coupons for more impulse purchases. Origin needs some UI work.

ME3 is on Origin because of Valve's success. What it isn't on Origin for is the reasons that Dragon Age 2 got kicked off Steam. Steam is one of the only ways that DRM works to prevent initial release piracy, and works (reasonably) well. Lots of developers use Steamworks DRM, and they are happy with it. EA wants in on that kind of protection, but due to selling their DLC within their own games (which works nice, at least Bioware's games anyway), they're certainly not going to use Steamworks. That's why ME3 requires Origin.


All that really matters is: FemShep >>>> MaleShep, and Adepts > All Other Classes.

When BF2 and MW3 came out i had to make a choice on what to get. Most of my friends wanted to get BF2. But then i heard about EA's potential abusive ULA. That somewhere in there it said that Origin can and will scan your ENTIRE computer. By installing Origin you give them this permission. I certainly don't want EA snooping around in my private stuff. And i also pirate a lot of games. Many of them EA's titles. Later EA went out and said that it only scans for info regarding Origin games. Gathers statistics on how/how much/when you use them. But they didn't change the ULA to state that it only scans for this. Instead it still states that it will scan your ENTIRE computer. It has permission to scan for anything and everything. That is not cool in my book. I haven't heard anything about the subject since then and i haven't really been looking either. So they may have changed it by now. But until i hear otherwise i won't touch Origin without a hazmat suit. When something can be abused it will be. It will do whatever you imagine and go beyond that just because they can.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bioware

6) I’ve seen reports that Origin is spyware. Is this true?
Origin is not spyware, and does not use or install spyware on user’s machines. In order to allow Origin to install games and their patches for everyone to use, Origin implements a permission change that results in Windows, not Origin, reviewing the filenames in the ProgramData/Origin folder. This is an ordinary Windows function, not an information-gathering process.

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http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...ndex/8975536/1

I'm still not going to install what is essentially a second Steam client, except its shitter.

And the fact that you're forced to install and use it to play the game, even if you buy the game from yer local Gamestop or whatever, is even more annoying. (Maybe this is the case with some "Steamworks" games awswell? not sure, i only buy games digitally these days.)

I am also pretty sure it will eventually get released on Steam anyway tho, they can keep telling people it won't but it probably will, considering like 90% of people either dislike or outright hates Origin.

It's just silly that they do this to try and promote something no-one wanted in the first place, and they will likely lose fucktons of money on this, because while it will probably sell pretty well anyway, it would have sold fucking LOADS more if it was on Steam.

Not to mention that since so many people hate Origin, the piracy rate for this game will be boosted even more than it would have been otherwise.

the origin release was alot better than expected

not much to hate about it, doesn't scan, works great on my PC

pretty much like a Battlenet account, with EA games however.
don't see anyone hating bnet anymore.

Did they call Origin something else before? I've seen a lot of people saying it's actually like 7 years old and they recently changed the name to Origin

edit: checked Wikipedia and apparently it was EA Downloader, then EA Link, then a combination of EA Store and EA Download Manager and now it's Origin.

It also says "The constant changes in the software and branding is criticized for being hard to follow."

No kidding, i had no clue either of those existed prior to Origin lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

Exactly. I play it on the xbox360, so I really don't care.

But I won't miss the opportunity to make an argument. ;)

I know there is this big anti-Origin circle-jerk campaign (usually in favor of steam), which I still don't understand, because steam does the exact same things, but seriously, Origin is not that bad. You're either locked into one Publisher/Vendor or a different Publisher/Vendor. They both spy on you. Valve lures you into impulse purchases for quick cash via promotions that really don't get you much aside from coupons for more impulse purchases. Origin needs some UI work.

ME3 is on Origin because of Valve's success. What it isn't on Origin for is the reasons that Dragon Age 2 got kicked off Steam. Steam is one of the only ways that DRM works to prevent initial release piracy, and works (reasonably) well. Lots of developers use Steamworks DRM, and they are happy with it. EA wants in on that kind of protection, but due to selling their DLC within their own games (which works nice, at least Bioware's games anyway), they're certainly not going to use Steamworks. That's why ME3 requires Origin.

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I agree with everything except.....

Quote:

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All that really matters is: FemShep >>>> MaleShep, and Adepts Vanguards > All Other Classes.

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Fixed.

That's so funny epyon...but only because of an inside joke between me and ryll ;P.

And Penner, there is absolutely no reason to hate origin; remember that it's still beta and pretty much just an evolution of EADLM+Store and even then it does a few things a lot better than steam like much less memory usage and the ability to choose wherever you want to install your games.
The only thing steam has over origin atm is a larger selection of games and the steam overlay in game.

And yes the whole steamworks DRM works exactly the same way if you get the game retail; after install you will need steam to run it, it's the exact same situation.
People are hating for no reason at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Penner

It's just silly that they do this to try and promote something no-one wanted in the first place, and they will likely lose fucktons of money on this, because while it will probably sell pretty well anyway, it would have sold fucking LOADS more if it was on Steam.

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Yes, I too wish for only one place that I am forced to buy all my games from, and where they can do whatever they want and force developers to comply with their terms, fees, and restrictions.
/sarcasm

This post screams steam fanboy. Choice is GOOD. EA is selling ME3 on pretty much every service except steam, because they and Valve have a disagreement on how content is managed.

Quote:

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And the fact that you're forced to install and use it to play the game, even if you buy the game from yer local Gamestop or whatever, is even more annoying. (Maybe this is the case with some "Steamworks" games awswell? not sure, i only buy games digitally these days.)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by darkshadow

And yes the whole steamworks DRM works exactly the same way if you get the game retail; after install you will need steam to run it, it's the exact same situation.
People are hating for no reason at all.

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I bought Fallout: New Vegas retail. I was infuriated it required steamworks. Had that been better advertised, I would have just bought it on steam in the first place. Origin and Steam work exactly the same ways.

Hate both, or neither.

Hmm, i didn't know certain games required Steam even when bought from retail stores aswell, i have to admit that sucks.
One exception though is if the game you buy is primarily a multiplayer game and uses Steams or Origins servers, kinda like Left4Dead, in that case i can understand the need for Steam/Origin to be installed with it.

People shouldn't have to use Steam or Origin if they don't like it, and forcing people to use either for a singleplayer game is bs.


Back on topic to ME3: are you guys going to play the same class in ìn your first run through of ME3 as your primary char in ME2 was, or you going to switch it up?

(sorry for kinda derailing the topic in the first place :P)

Was ME2 your first ME game or something?

It was not.

I'm so going to need a ME2 savegame, tali romance, pretty much paragon throughout the whole game with all ME1+2 characters alive (at least for 1 of course) and no romance in the first game

Does ME2 uses Steamcloud on steam? if yes, too bad I didn't get the game on steam but as a retail version... all my savegames are gone (new pc :()

http://www.masseffectsaves.com/

Guess i'll get one of those, i didn't manage to save my crew in my old save >_>

The playable characters all lived though

Demo is out which means:
Multi-motherfuckin-player son.

If you're playing it on PC, I'm EpyonNext on Origin. Lets get some peeps together and ruin some Cerberus shit.

People use Origin?

MP is only for people that got BF3 for now.
Anyway some gameplay I recorded:

Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCkr1NNoGq4

BTW i decided i wanted to try the Demo. So before i installed Origin i decided to search for how Origin scans your ENTIRE computer and collects data.

http://www.nerdbuster.com/2011/09/ea...-your-privacy/
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/EA-...-PC-36690.html

Among other things it will do so search for EA games and check if the serials and file versions are correct. This to fight piracy. Since i had both DA2 and ME2 pirated i now have to uninstall them IF i want to use Origin. Or i could just wait to the release and pirate ME3. It's all a question if i want to play online or if i will be satisfied with single player. I will install it now to play the demo because i can't wait, but after I'm finished I'm gonna uninstall it and rethink if it's really worth the raping.

From what I could tell from the demo:
offensive
Vanguard:
high risk as always, but also highest HP and offensive king skills; melee does a lot of damage.
Soldier:
Doesn't really need to be explained, melee a bit slow but does massive damage.
Adept:
Fastest melee, biggest range on melee and other skills provide lots of battle control.

well rounded
Sentinel:
Tech armour makes this class a walking tank, but lacks any super offensive skills, good melee with good range too.
Adapt:
again, fast melee, and lots of battle control.

support
Engineer:
The class that let's others fight for him with turrents and drones, kinda bad melee.
Infiltrator:
Cloak oriented gameplay, terrible melee.
Adapt:
Again, can control the battle really well.

So it seems for people just starting out, Adapt is prolly the best class to choose. The melee alone is incredibly useful since it's range is so incredible and it activates so fast.

Vanguard is fucking sweet with his new charge combo, charge+nova. Although you don't want to do that with many enemy's alive since you remove all of your shield. But was fun as hell. Adept got so much control, much thanks to Singularity. But the strongest and most OP i played so far is definitely my engineer. Maxed that turret so it got a flamethrower and i just threw that at a group of enemys and camped behind a wall.When the cooldown was finished i just threw out a new one just to reposition it. It killed faster then anything i tried so far, well maybe except Adepts Grenade Toss thingy that i killed the big boss mecha in like 10 seconds but it's restricted to needing to pick up grenades which make it a worse skill IMO).

Krogan soldier is a fucking monster. I just wade right in and start running people over. I don't even have to use a gun, I just walk up and curb stomp everything but an Atlas.

Spend some more time on the demo and here are some small revisions based on some testing.

offensive
Vanguard:
high risk as always, but also highest HP and offensive king skills; melee does a lot of damage, fastest melee, and only class with running melee.
Adept:
Second fastest melee, about the same speed as sentinel, biggest range on melee but it recovers a tiny bit slower than the sentinel; other skills provide lots of battle control.

well rounded
Sentinel:
Tech armour makes this class a walking tank, but lacks any super offensive skills, good/fast/cool melee with good range too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiuB9pHuNDo

I want this so badly now

Saw this earlier, had to change my pants.

Need to change pants again.

I had no idea the multiplayer had opened up for everyone. I just installed the demo last night again because i got tired of waiting for the release which is the 8th in Europe while NA has the release the 6th (and they wonder why people pirate stuff). And i just tried to press multiplayer and i got in. Shocked at first but no need to stare a gift horse in the mouth. So played a little and managed to unlock Asari Adept (just the thing i wanted to play the most). So i quickly maxed out Stasis (added the bubble effect) and played it with a sniper rifle. Man oh man is that the most OP class in multiplayer. Stasis then headshot (which is 1shot). To bad they didn't let you play whatever you wanted (wanted a Krogan Adept and a Quarian Vanguard).

I also played the class i have played through all ME-games, the Vanguard. And i must say he offers the most fun. Maxed charge and Nova with a 25-50% (forgot what the exact % was) chance to not trigger a CD on charge and 25% to not use up any shield on the nova. Also i chose the option for nova to only use half the shield so you could use it twice. This made me a teleporting nuke. I was porting around the entire battlefield decimating everything in my path. However even though it offers the most fun you die more then with the others since you are deep in enemy fire all the time without cover. And the turret the enemy sets up is Vanguards bane. But so much fun in one package.

I will love to play MP. The MP demo made me decide to buy it so i pre-ordered it. Now i just have to wait to the 8th before i can play it. Only thing i had a problem with is that it uses players as hosts for MP and it doesn't do a ping check to determine who becomes the host. Instead first one in the game becomes host and if that person lags the entire game will lag like shit.

I can already tell you the most OP classes in MP are the krogan soldier/sentinel(this one will never ever die), Salarian infiltrator and human vanguard; I killed 1 atlas, 1 normal guy, 1 centurion and 1 shield guy all at the same time, by just spamming charge/nova, all 4 couldn't do anything until they died.
The other classes are good, but they don't compare to how good those 3 are.
A group of 2 vanguards and 2 infiltrators will never ever lose.

Though I'm basing all of this on the demo and thus the cerberus enemies, the full game should have a much wider range of enemies; the other classes will prolly shine more against those.

So...colossal bug importing faces from characters you started in ME1. Now acknowledged by Bioware. Basically, if you started ME1 and ported the character through to ME2, you have to either remake the face completely in ME3, or struggle to get the face-code out and then tweak what is missing. Either way, it's not going to look right (see the examples in the bioware forums threads).

As absolutely insane as it sounds, that ME3 face import bug is so demoralizing that I think I'm just not even going to bother playing it today.

I put in the serial codes for all the collectors edition stuff and DLC, I put in the Online pass code, I've rebooted the game three times without starting to play it (roughly 30 minutes), and then I import my character, and it tells me that I have to re-create the face. I check online, everyone has this issue, not just 360 players.

Not worth it. The fact that an issue of this magnitude never got caught before the game went gold (not to mention never caught before it shipped) is pretty much unbelievable. WTF happened to QC Bioware?

Wow, talk about concern over trifling little issues. I hope Daniel Tosh decides to wear turtleneck sweaters on his next season of Tosh.0 or I'll totally not watch.

I plan to get ME3 this weekend because it's Spring Break next week. Rather than sitting on a beach with hot chicks and douchebag frat boys killing brain cells with alcohol and getting cancer, I'll spend a good part of the week at work and then playing ME3.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

[Some totally useless garbage, yet again]

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Lo, Animeniax, defender of the weak and oppressed on the internet! I really don't think Bioware is going to have sex with you because you're protecting them. But I'm certain that they're very gracious you're doing your best to mitigate this issue for them. Maybe they'll give you an honorary vice-presidency at the company!


Call it a "trifling" issue, but it should be a huge embarrassment to Bioware. A mistake like this is immediately apparent upon starting the game. How it ever made it past beta testing should be alarming for a company of Bioware's experience and reputation.

It doesn't hurt PS3 players who started with ME2, doesn't hurt late adopters who followed the hype and started with ME2, doesn't hurt players who don't give a shit and just play with the defaults, it only hurt the players who have supported the series from the very beginning on PC and xbox and used the customization features that Bioware games are known for. It hurts their devoted fans, and that's why it is a significant issue. The fact that they never caught this problem before the game went gold, that's a big issue.

I'm not defending you or your trifling issues so...

Sorry that you feel the need to place yourself as the main character like you're actually living the game and saving the universe. I've never felt the need to live vicariously through my video game characters. But I hope it all works out for you and you get a $5 rebate on your next Bioware game.

Ever since ME1 came out, Bioware had been billing the whole series as "Everything you do matters, so be careful cause it'll matter in the next game." They've been telling people to keep their save datas for the previous 2 games because it'll make a difference in the end. If i'd bothered to keep my saves data and something like this happened, i'd be pissed too.

I don't see why you can't seem to understand that it's possible for someone to be upset over this. It might not seem like that big of a deal, but Bioware completely dropped the ball on this one and screwed up on one of their main selling point for the ME series.

I can understand them being annoyed over it, but talk about your FWPs. It's the skin for your character, not a major character attribute or ability that affects gameplay or the storyline. Your decisions and plot choices from the previous games will still be in effect.

Bioware just has to release a patch and problem solved.

I think the main thing that upset people is that Bioware is notorious for ignoring bug reports and customers complaints. The Bioware forum is pretty draconian and any criticism toward Bioware is often met with a ban.

For example, there have been a large amount of report that certain copies of the PC version of ME3 will not play any sound because there's some incompatibility issue with Realtek sound drivers. There is still no official response from Bioware regarding this issue, which is pretty unacceptable considering this is such a big game release. The fail character transfer is just another thing on top of all of these other issues.

Soooo i'm at the very end of the game, i'm not gonna spoil what they are but theres 4 "final" choices... and both the Paragon and the Renegade options was fucking GREYED OUT.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU -.-

Edit: To clarify, what i'm referring to are the final conversation options, not the "ending selection" options (for lack of a better name).

Man, I'm thinking of reloading a save game 12 hours back, simply because I'm now back at the citadel after the tuchanka mission....and well I reallllllllly don't like what I told a certain someone last time I was here..this fucking sucks.
I think I'm just gonna play some MP for the rest of the night now...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Penner

Soooo i'm at the very end of the game, i'm not gonna spoil what they are but theres 4 "final" choices... and both the Paragon and the Renegade options was fucking GREYED OUT.

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I'm about 12 hours in, and I've seen maybe...two paragon/renegade persuasion options at all. Kinda disappointing. I've had a few more quick-time ones, but generally, there hasn't been much.

I do wonder about the reputation system. Before, you could level up one of the powers that would give you a substantial (typically vital) boost to persuasion options. That's not really the case here. It boosts overall. I also get a lot of "reputation" points...which I guess boosts both gauges, which are now stacked on top of each other.

So...do you have to go all Renegade or all Paragon? Or do you get more access to Persuasion choices because the bar is larger as a whole? Because my bar is substantially more Renegade than Paragon, but both of the persuasion choices I was allowed were Paragon (no renegade persuasion option for those convos).

Btw, i think that whole "war effort" system sucks ass, i would have preferred it if they just scrapped that altogether and made more missions or added more to the story or something.

And FYI, the "Galactic Readiness" bit in the 'War Effort' stuff will NEVER go above 50%, UNLESS you play Multiplayer. Which is total and complete bullshit.

good thing I played MP first with my brother before I did anything else.

Is anyone using a game with a Liara Romance in the first ME? I exported my save from the PC to the 360, but ever since she showed up they never really talked about their relationship so i'm wondering if i screwed up.

Did you rekindle that romance in the ME2 Shadow Broker DLC? I'm guessing that that segment would import any romance options for Liara.

But I wouldn't get too worried yet. I imported a Kaiden-romance campaign, and he's been a little distant because he's still upset about the whole, "working for Cerberus," thing.

Nope, and i didn't keep it in ME2 either. Went for dat ass instead.

Well then you didn't have a liara romance, you broke it off idiot.

I tapped Liara in the first and then Miranda in the second and i was able to rekindle my romance with Liara. It will take some time before there is some time to speak about such things. Was a little heartbreaking to turn down Miranda. Almost wanted to slap my Shepard but then i realize I'm the one that made him do that. Well Liara feels much more worth it.

I have had no problems with the game so far. Thought the game was top notch except for the ending. Very anti-climactic to go though all that awesomeness to get those crappy endings. The ending felt very rushed. Bet it's EA thats to blame as usual. Probably wanted the game to be released a certain date and didn't care if it was ready or not. Just like DA2. I still can't believe EA got as big as they did when they only make crappy decisions and almost all games they do are shitty and everything they touch turns to shit.

It's disappointing but I found out ME3 isn't an open world game. I thought with the galaxy map and quest list you could pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want, like Skyrim. But it turns out you're pretty limited as to what you can do beyond the main quest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

It's disappointing but I found out ME3 isn't an open world game. I thought with the galaxy map and quest list you could pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want, like Skyrim. But it turns out you're pretty limited as to what you can do beyond the main quest.

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Not that it wasn't obvious from your other woefully misinformed dumbass posts in this thread, but it's pretty obvious you never played a Bioware title, let alone a Mass Effect game before.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

Not that it wasn't obvious from your other woefully misinformed dumbass posts in this thread, but it's pretty obvious you never played a Bioware title, let alone a Mass Effect game before.

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Didn't Bioware make the Baldur's Gate series? That's an open world type game, if not quite as open as Skyrim, though the elements of openness are the same. That is, there are areas you wouldn't want to visit at lower levels because you would die. Case closed.

Just stop, before you humiliate yourself further.

Baldur's Gate is restricted in exactly the same way. You can't go to Baldur's Gate itself before you solve the issue with the Candlekeep, which you can't get back to without dealing with the Bandit Camp, which you can't get to without dealing with the iron mine, etc. The locations literally don't appear on the map until you've progressed the main storyline.

If you're talking about BG2, you only gain access to class-specific-quest related areas, but you can't get to the special city, which you can't get to until you've gone through the underdark, which you can't get to until you've gone to the asylum, which you can't get to without ending the thieves guild war, which you can't start until you have enough gold.

By the way, both games auto-level your opponents in any given area, so you can visit any of the accessible areas at any time, in any order. The challenge will be appropriate. (edit: So no, you don't die at lower levels.) But again, they're only unlocked with story progression.

Started the SP few days ago and now 19 hours later I *think* I'm nearing the end. (

for me ME3 is the best in the series... for the first time it really felt like my decisions are having an impact somewhere and somehow. I had a nice amount of Paragon/Renegade options too... probably around ~5-6 quicktimes (or more, didn't count) and ~7-8 renegade/paragon answers.
I'm full Paragon btw and I was able to choose between both options all the time.

that aside, I can't believe how much they fucked up Tali's-no-suit picture though... oh damn, that was so disappointing

to sum it up, the game was totally worth buying, the MP is decent enough for a few hours of fun, maybe DLC will make it better.
the SP is very climatic and it certainly had it moments where I was close to shed tears. I believe ME2 really did a good job in making you care for what is happening in ME3.
God I was *so* happy to see Garrus again, I can't even express how much I loved that bottle-shooting scene on the Citadel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGj2C...eature=related

*I'm Garrus Vakarian and THIS is now my favorite spot on the Citadel"
awesome <3

Lets try and keep the spoilers to a minimum please, it's a wonder i haven't spoiled myself for the endings yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Archangel

Lets try and keep the spoilers to a minimum please, it's a wonder i haven't spoiled myself for the endings yet.

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Agreed. It's only been out for a week in the US, and less in Europe. Give some time for the completionists to get there. It's really a 35-40 hour game, and not all of us have the liberty to play it all day long.

It's bad enough I have to avoid every game news site article on ME3 because I know the comments are loaded with spoilers.

Well I finally got back from a 2 week field exercise(That's military for "play in the woods") and sat down to play this.

Long story short: I laughed, I cried, I smiled, and sighed. I couldn't have asked for anything better outside of whats being ranted on round the internet.

Best part of the game for me? The soundtrack. My God, even without Jack Wall they outdid themselves. They even got The Faunts to do a song for the credits. Badass.

I haven't really noticed the soundtrack in-game, but I guess that means it's working (like in DBZ before the Freeza Saga).

Something that's bugging me are the bugs in some missions. I can't tell if I'm doing something wrong or if it's a bug, so I end up searching for it online and sometimes get spoilers. One I've found for sure is the Hanar diplomat side quest. Supposedly if you leave Citadel before completing the mission, you lose the ability to complete the quest. That's not really a spoiler, just a warning.

I may have found another bug but it's minor, finding someone on Citadel who needs turret parts I found on mission.

Finished the game in 39 hours with everything done, and around 6000 EMS. Endings sucked, OST was good. Favorite has to be Leaving Earth

Yeah, I couldn't complete the Hanar-quest either

but

Quote:

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I may have found another bug but it's minor, finding someone on Citadel who needs turret parts I found on mission.

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what do you mean?
you can't find him? or the parts?

the guy is @ commons and for the parts...well I can't remember.

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Endings sucked

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the only problem I had with the ending was the normandy part.
and the green ending in general (doesn't make sense... at all)
thanks god that I chose the orange one as my first, got both "secret" (if you want to call them that) endings because of that too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KrayZ33

Yeah, I couldn't complete the Hanar-quest either

but
what do you mean?
you can't find him? or the parts?

the guy is @ commons and for the parts...well I can't remember.

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I found out you have to wait until after another major event before you can complete the turret parts mission. That same major event clears the Hanar diplomat mission from your queue. Later, there's another "find the terminal" mission... not sure if that one is not completable if you leave the Citadel like with the Hanar diplomat mission, so I finished it before leaving the Citadel.

For those of you that has finished the game, and/or are aware of the reaction most people had to it, this might be an interesting read.

not sure if want
even though the normandy part during the end-cinematic is totally retarted, I liked the orange/blue ending

would love to get additional explanations about the reapers though, I still don't know who or what created them.
and it's extremely weird that they themselves are AIs....if you consider their purpose.
by their own logic, they too, are bound to rebel against their creators.

I thought the green ending was awesome, i'm just sayin.

the green one doesn't make sense in my book
its extremely far fetched, pure fantasy, thus unrealistic (yeah I said it...) and poorly explained.

if they are going to change the ending, I wouldn't mind if they go for the indoctrination theory.
it would bring Harbringer back into the game, which I always thought as shepards archenemy.

Ending Parody video. So, yhea, if you havent guessed: SPOILERS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vG4EyfXOTJ4

Everyone who has beaten the game should watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_...eature=channel

I do really, really hope they intended all of it and are going to make it a little more obvious for the player. It would be enough to get the explanations *after* you made your decision (blue/red/green).
The way it is now, is simply not enough

that little video, made by a fan, is so much more intense than everything you encounter story wise in the game.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KrayZ33

Everyone who has beaten the game should watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_...eature=channel

I do really, really hope they intended all of it and are going to make it a little more obvious for the player. It would be enough to get the explanations *after* you made your decision (blue/red/green).
The way it is now, is simply not enough

that little video, made by a fan, is so much more intense than everything you encounter story wise in the game.

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Around 40% of that made sense, the rest reads like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream.

I considered the hypothesis of it all being in his head simply because of the dreams and the catalyst's avatar, the boy only Shepard could see. That said... i dunno, it's hard to tell if they're going somewhere with this or if it's just pretentious ambiguity.

That video is stupid long, I didn't even bother watching the first 10 seconds; watch this one instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDSwW7jflAQ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darkshadow

That video is stupid long

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but a lot better enacted and explained than that short one.
and its missing a lot of stuff too.

wouldn't mind having that 25minute video rolling on my screen after the credits (without the text below it of course)

the video is good, but I feel the 7 minute one conveys the exact same message; especially for people with short attention spans.

If people have managed to play through 3 ME games (maybe even multiple play-troughs) and get the ending they did i think they can get trough 21 minutes of awesomeness that gives you an speculated version of what was really happening. One that will make you satisfied with the ending you got if it turns out to be true.

BTW this means my Shepard lost to the indoctrination >_<. I might have to replay the ending and choose the "red" ending instead :P

Warning: Vague Spoilers
(Sooner or later we should be able to discuss it openly though.)


It was pretty obvious which color you were meant to pick. Even before I heard the Indoctrination theories, everything just seemed off about what was implied by the Catalyst. It was too cut and dry, too concise, too simple. Plus, I didn't spend the last 117 hours so I could make peace with the Reapers.

Sure I felt a little bad, but this was the only way to "win." The reward of the extra little scene aside from the Stargazer was worth it.

Screw the cycle, embrace chaos. It's that unpredictability that made Shepard successful in all previous endeavors. The drive to not simply follow what you are told, that what others tell you is always true, it is this that got Shepard promoted to Spectre in the first place! Otherwise everyone would have continued to believe Saren. If you picked any other ending besides Red, you were spitting in the face of your own Shepard.

SPOILERS ABOUT THE GETH!

No not really. I don't like to play games with others lives as the stakes. In this case the Geth and any synthetic would die. If the Geth had been evil i could have made en exception but as it turned out they where not. It was not my right to end the Reapers at the cost of dooming the Geth (and anyone else that was synthetic including all the people that was full on implants of different kinds because of medical procedures). So my Shepard chose to control the Reapers instead and send them to the edge of dark space to never return.

At my choice if Legion would upload the Reaper code to the Geth to give them true intelligence i chose to let him do it. I prepared myself for the fact that it might end the Quarians. After all it was the Quarians that was the aggressors. Even when you went there to help them so they could back off, they still attacked. So if they got wiped out it was their own fault. But since i was a "Godly Paragon of Peace" i was able to stop them from attacking ^^. But i didn't do all that just so i could sacrifice them to end the Reapers.

But since i think like that I guess the Reapers managed to indoctrinate me good O_o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

Warning: Vague Spoilers
(Sooner or later we should be able to discuss it openly though.)
If you picked any other ending besides Red, you were spitting in the face of your own Shepard.

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Warning: Vague Spoilers


so you were spitting on the geth and EDI then... and maybe on yourself too.

I made my shepard work hard to make others believe that these machines have "souls" and a right to *live*, but in the end, I've forsaken them and wiped them out... at least thats what the end sequence shows me (whether it actually happened or not is uncertain)

in general the catalys tells you this:

Red-Renegade
You destroy synthetics, you won't die (he doesn't mention it though, but he doesn't deny it either)
Reapers are dead and can't "save" the organics anymore

Blue-Paragon
you sacrifice yourself, you become the new "commander" of the reapers, always able to intervene if you want to... you'll die though, you'll turn into a ghostly being.

Warning: Spoilers
(not vague ones!)

...and you believed them? That's downright shameful. It's as equally likely that the Shepard-Ghost will get corrupted, just as Illusive Man did. To think that one existence can control a force as insidious as the Reapers is the pinnacle of hubris, and you fell for it. Just watch it. You look like you're getting turned into a husk.

As for who you lose in choosing the Red ending, I've made plenty of sacrifices throughout the trilogy, ones that I certainly didn't want to do. What's one more group for the sake of trillions?

ME3 is an entire game of hard choices. I already had to let the Quarians all die for their aggressions, despite my best efforts. I replayed that whole section just to see what I had done wrong, couldn't change it. Sacrificing the Geth for everyone else wasn't that hard, because Legion was already dead. It's hard to sympathize with the other Geth. EDI was a regrettable loss, but this game showed us plenty of times that you can't save everyone.

Oh please don't pretend now that you knew what was going on, you chose destroy because you believed it would destroy them...guess what, it didn't; you chose destroy because you believed it would be acceptable to sacrifice the geth and EDI (even though she's not synthetic life). Believing and choosing control is just as much as a valid decision if you believed and chose destroy.
Synthesis however is arguably even worse than the worst (4th) ending and everyone who chose that has betrayed everything shepard fought for.

You never cared for legion or what the geth had become, so ofcourse you chose destroy ending; everyone else that valued the geth as much or more than the quarians and believed in saving as many lives as possible and peaceful solutions (paragon shepard) however, couldn't possibly choose to throw them away, unless they were completely aware of what was going on...which you weren't, don't lie, we discussed this ;P.

So yeah cool that your complete emotional detachment from legion/geth made you indifferent to their supposed deaths, but basing your final choice on that (which you did), doesn't make it any more valid than the people who chose control.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darkshadow

Oh please don't pretend now that you knew what was going on, you chose destroy because you believed it would destroy them...guess what, it didn't; you chose destroy because you believed it would be acceptable to sacrifice the geth and EDI (even though she's not synthetic life). Believing and choosing control is just as much as a valid decision if you believed and chose destroy.
Synthesis however is arguably even worse than the worst (4th) ending and everyone who chose that has betrayed everything shepard fought for.

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It's a perfectly cromulent argument. The catalyst doesn't want you to choose Destroy. It's very dismissive of that option, making the implication that the chaos that would come would be somehow worse than the chaos the Reaper presence has been causing ever since Saren found Sovereign...like I'm going to believe something that is proud that it created the Reaper Cycle. Of course it doesn't want me to destroy its creations, it believed that the Reapers were the only solution.

It is the least trustworthy source.

I cared for Legion, just not as much as you did. I liked EDI too, like I said, that one I felt bad about (until I saw Joker flying the Normandy in a ME field, fleeing Earth at top speed...then I didn't feel so guilty). That means he wasn't killing Reapers in orbit like he said he would be doing!

Spoilers
Spoilers

Quote:

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Oh please don't pretend now that you knew what was going on, you chose destroy because you believed it would destroy them...guess what, it didn't; you chose destroy because you believed it would be acceptable to sacrifice the geth and EDI (even though she's not synthetic life). Believing and choosing control is just as much as a valid decision if you believed and chose destroy.

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pretty much this

I went for red for only one reason: revenge.
if it turns out to be the right/paragon endingg, then even better

I didn't want to control them, for what reason would I want to control them, if I can wipe them out...especially since I have to give up everything else, I didn't want that
I wanted to be with Garrus, Tali and Liara even more. (man that last conversation with garrus, brings back a tear into my eye)
but killing the geth in the process made me feel guilty as fuck.

however, it never came into my mind that everything is just a dream when I stood infront of the device.
the only 2 things which were extremely fishy to me were

Anderson on the Citadel:
How did he get there, what the... he was not there..., how did he manage to reach the console before me, there was only a single way to reach that damn thing!

but I was like.. "meh poor writing"

and:

Child-holo= Device
Why does it look like a random dead kid on Earth.. did it read my mind and manifested as something I know/knew?

and I don't believe anyone who says that they came up with the indoctrination theory themselves :P
(it's probably not even true in the first place)

Spoilers, obviously.


Not once have I ever said I came up with the Indoctrination theory on my own. I am just easily convinced by it given the plot holes left open in the ending. I stated explicitly that before I saw those videos (even with the myriad of flaws in some of their logic, like the stuff saying that Anderson isn't talking to the IM...right...) that everything felt off. Nothing specifically, just wrong. There are chatlogs on IRC to prove it, I thought the kid was a ghost of PTSD before DS sent me the link to the video (7 min version), I never considered Indoctrination as a possibility until I watched it (and described it as a "compelling" argument). The catalyst was manipulating you, but it didn't dawn on me that it was part of indoctrination, just simple, straightforward persuasive manipulation and lying by omission.

I believe the ending is the result of poor, last minute writing. One should always write a beginning, an end, and fill in the middle. Bioware has been pretty clear that they didn't do that. They were settling on an ending right up to the last minute. With all the odd statements coming out of Bioware regarding the uproar, perhaps it is by luck alone they left gaps enough for fans to come up with the Indoctrination theory, something that hopefully Bioware will adopt in their "clarifications" DLC.

The inky tentacles were more likely written to be the IM's full reaper-tech enhanced capabilities. Sure, he's indoctrinated, but all the Sanctuary, Collector Base, and other reaper tech he's found allowed him to turn himself into a half-assed Reaper, much like the ME2 human reaper was going to become. We know quite well that the smaller Reapers are controlled by the Dreadnought Reapers (such as Sovereign and Harbinger). Saren had similar levels of control over Benezia and the like, granted to him through Sovereign. His suicide (or dismay such that you get to shoot him) is just meant as an homage to Saren's, not some elaborately crafted allusion using Shepard's memories so Shep's subconscious can believe it has defeated the more obvious reaper indoctrination shadow to let his guard down.

The fact that Anderson gets there first? Sloppy writing to re-create the dramatic showdown scene. The parts of the citadel that remind us of previous things Shepard has done, similar to the way the Geth created a scene that Shepard could comprehend? Lazy reuse of assets. Something Bioware certainly has a reputation for by now (Both ME1 and DA2).

That nothing you did throughout the games is mentioned by the catalyst? The effect of last minute writing/coding. No time to pull in those flags and assets, since they ran out of time to write the ending (again, admitted by Hudson that they were going back and forth up to the last possible minute, and the game was delayed slightly anyway).

Spoilers:

I chose the blue ending, maybe because I wasn't aware of the full ME story background and importance of indoctrination, maybe because I liked the idea of controlling a vast reaper army to wage war on the universe. I didn't even realize there was a third option.

I'm not sure why so many people question how Anderson gets to the console before Shepard. Clearly he's in much better condition than Shepard at that point (Shepard is bleeding and dragging ass, meanwhile Anderson seems unhurt), so movement would be easier for him.

its because there is only a single way to reach that console, and shepard is bound to see him when he's moving towards it.

that aside, he shouldn't be on the citadell in the first place, he wasn't with you when you charged towards the beam.

for the third ending, you'll only be able to choose it if you managed to get a certain amount of war assets.

The way Shepard described what he saw while talking to Anderson on the radio made it sound like Anderson was just way ahead of him in getting to the console. He mentions seeing areas that Anderson already talked about on his trek through the Citadel. Anderson charged in with everyone else, it was an all-out assault to get to the beam. I don't see why Anderson wouldn't have been charging too, though he's old and in command.

I had almost 100% war assets (only 50% galactic readiness because I didn't play MP), and completed every mission before the attack on Cerberus. The third option wasn't presented by the ghost boy, but I guess I could have walked into the beam anyway?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

I had almost 100% war assets (only 50% galactic readiness because I didn't play MP), and completed every mission before the attack on Cerberus. The third option wasn't presented by the ghost boy, but I guess I could have walked into the beam anyway?

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Galactic readiness applies a multiplier to your war assets. 50% Readiness means you're going into the final battle with (War Assets x .5), effectively halving your strength. Or something like that. It's probably not that severe, but it is significant.

This is why people were a bit upset about MP's effect on SP. You're forced to play, or do every possible side quest to avoid the bad endings.
edit: Also that the number drops by 1% per day below 80%, and substantially faster above 80%.

you don't need to do every possible sidequest, you need ~5000 units with 50% or ~3000 units with 100%, I did everything I could while actually still missing 2 things and still got ~7000 units.

Aye, the boring stuff is totally skipable. That said, you're a bitch if you don't do your best to have all of the galaxy at your side for your battle against Marauder Shields.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

edit: Also that the number drops by 1% per day below 80%, and substantially faster above 80%.

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Chances are though if you took the time to play the 12-15 MP games that got you to 100% in the first place then you probably play regularly.

Also, the M99-Saber in Multiplayer is a fucking monster. It carries teams.

It's funny but if you use weapons, Cerberus seems like the easiest. If you use Salarian Infiltrator, Geth seem easiest due to being synthetic. And if you use biotic powers Reapers seem easiest.

I personally feel Black Widow owns M99. I know M99 is strong but i feel BW have M99 beat on all accounts except the clip size. Better damage, better armor penetration, better accuracy and attachment to see though smoke. Only once i chose M99 for is Sentinel (and warrior if i chose to play it sometime) and since they nerfed the Falcon it might be my new weapon for my Engineer too. But that is basically just because i feel those classes should not be played with a weapon that zooms. if i could chose to remove the scope on the BW i would probably just go with that on them too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EpyonNext

Chances are though if you took the time to play the 12-15 MP games that got you to 100% in the first place then you probably play regularly.

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True, but it is a problem for people who can't play as regularly, like people with families for instance. I ran it up on a Saturday, then finished the game on a Sunday, and I could play it all day. There are a lot of gamers out there who can't play more than an hour a night nowadays. It's kinda hard to build it up for the SP finale when it keeps going down. It was a poor design decision to force people to keep playing MP. If it was like a week before it dropped, it wouldn't be a problem at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TwisT

It's funny but if you use weapons, Cerberus seems like the easiest. If you use Salarian Infiltrator, Geth seem easiest due to being synthetic. And if you use biotic powers Reapers seem easiest.

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Reapers are definitely easiest with biotics period, but I find Geth to be the hardest generally. Cerberus you need a mix of all three, mostly because of Guardians (most easily dealt with by biotic pull or statis) and overloads to quickly short Centurion, Nemesis, and Phantom shields. Guardians are a pain in the ass without a biotic, large sink of time and ammo to take out one unless you shoot through the mailslot or savage them with a M-300 point blank.

Geth on the other hand can be difficult even with techs. The mix of rocket troopers every wave and hunters nearly every wave make it hard for any team not actively and vigilantly managing their own defense. It can become trivial for the geth to get devastating crossfire on your team while hacking. Rocket troopers pin everyone down and then the hunters run through. Sure, super-solo capable Infiltrator makes it easy, but they make everything easy.

The black widow is great, but I still prefer the widow to everything else; the sheer damage on it is just crazy.
The N7 valiant is also an awesome sniper rifle which I prefer to the black widow, sure it doesn't have the crazy damage/penetration but it does have a lot of ammo, multiple clips in the round and a super fast reload.
I only tend to use assault rifles when I'm using the sentinel, otherwise it's just sniper or pistol; arc pistol/carnifex/paladin just wreck shit.

Also the salarian infiltrator and the asari adept are by far the 2 best classes in the game, those 2 have all the tools needed to ruin any enemy class. After that the human vanguard ofcourse, though that will probably change soon with the upcoming dlc that includes the krogan vanguard/geth infiltrator.

Quote:

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Reapers are definitely easiest with biotics period, but I find Geth to be the hardest generally.Sure, super-solo capable Infiltrator makes it easy, but they make everything easy.

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*Quarian* infiltrator

sabotage pyro/primes/rocket trooper

G_G so much fun, especially if there are 2 around, Geth Primes are the weakest of all the huge enemies (Banshee/Atlas/Prime)
3-4 hits are enough to finish them off as infiltrator on silver.
2000/2200 points ea. kill

Cebrberus is a problem because of phantoms, and the turrets
you can handle the turrets somehow as long as you don't rush things, but phantoms are fucking broken

good to handle with sniper rifles though, but still damn broken

Quote:

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The black widow is great, but I still prefer the widow to everything else; the sheer damage on it is just crazy.

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do they have different damage-stats?

Yes, the widow does more raw damage, the BW has more shots before reload; just like the paladin has more raw damage, but the carnifex has a bigger clip.

I prefer the Javelin to all the other sniper rifles. Sees through smoke and walls and penetrates walls/smoke by default.

isn't the smoke part scope specific and the penetration part also true for the widow?

No, the other rifles need the sniper scope mod for seeing through smoke, the javelin also has the highest penetration but it does less damage per shot compared to the widow, it also shoots slower; that little charge up before each shot bugs me. Also seeing through smoke is highly overrated imo.

I like the charge up. It keeps me from wasting a shot if the target jukes right before I fire.

how does that help, it could happen 0,5 seconds later and the charge-up would be the reason why you missed the target
I haven't used it yet (neither SP nor MP) but a sniper-user with the same timing as you should be faster because of that.


do you guys play MP often?
Its pretty boring imho... its hard to play more than 2 games in a row, its so repetitive, it takes too long to buy spectre packs (~-30-40 minutes on silver.. 2x15-20mins for around 30k credits each).
its difficult to motivate myself to unlock more stuff,even less motivating when the store fucks up again and eats up my credits.

they should've made more game-modes, or at least more objectives.
on the long run, the MP is really a poor excuse... I should be glad that there is a MP part in the first place, but I'm not.... they shouldn't have wasted time on this and go for a better ending.

hell, even another L4D-clone would be fine by me... but this? I was able to get a few hours of fun out of it, but now, what can I say, I expected more.

and I'm still annoyed by the fact that I spent so much time rescuing squads and ships all over the galaxy just so they would add to some numbers in the war-room.

where was my geth-prime-squad during the assault on earth, my asari biotic commando.
Oh man, I went to earth, *totally* expecting something along Dragon Age 1 where I was able to call in reinforcements when things got ugly.
but things did not get ugly, "hardcore" is as easy as "medium" in ME2, even though they said things are going to be one step more difficult as in ME2 (Medium becomes Easy, Hard becomes Medium etc.) and I didn't see any of the dreadnoughts, Squads, Fighters I rescued.

and seriously now

+ weapon damage on armor
+ weapon damage on passive skills
+ weapon damage on active skills
+ weapon damage on passive upgrades
+ weapon damage on weapon mods
+ weapon damage on squad-power-bonuses
+ health / armor / shield / barrier damage on ammo-powers?

I went for the Vindicator and there was not a single reason to ever drop that weapon again.

1-2 burst were enough to kill any normal enemy in the game.
now after seeing how well the Mattlock preforms in MP I don't want to imagine the pain it can deal in SP

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KrayZ33

G_G so much fun, especially if there are 2 around, Geth Primes are the weakest of all the huge enemies (Banshee/Atlas/Prime)
3-4 hits are enough to finish them off as infiltrator on silver.

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I feel like it is class dependent. I've soloed Banshee's (while the rest of the team is doing other things, killing other things) with both Human Adepts and Human Engineers, the latter being substantially easier (did it at lvl 6 engineer). All you need is an SMG for the adept and a pistol for the Engineer, firing and backing away the whole time. Spam Warp once the barrier is down from SMG fire, or spam Overload while the barrier is up, and Incinerate when it's down. It goes faster if the Adept can get a biotic combo from some little grunt unit. Atlases are cake for the engineer too. Geth Primes aren't so much of an issue as the rocket troopers and hunters that always tag along. Their shields prevent hitting them with Singularity, and the Prime's drones catch the Overload more often than not.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by darkshadow

Also seeing through smoke is highly overrated imo.

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Yeah, but the feeling of nailing the Centurion in the head when he's prancing about thinking he's safe is worth it. The headless orange outline is priceless. :D