I'm about 15 hours through, playing as a soldier. The game is awesome. Mordin is the most intriguing character, I reckon. And BTW you can get Kelly (the psychiatrist) in a relationship if you start your character as a chick. Girl on girl, FTW! All the side quests to gain squad loyalty shape out to be interesting even if they don't look interesting at the start. And some side quests are sorta like minigames, destroy heavy mechs before they destroy all the crates of salvage or shoot the pykjas who are stealing krogan food supplies.
i am not best pleased by how late mine came. its saturday now, and its only just arrived. amazon, i am disappoint
I am about 31 hours into the game, and I still can't put it down. I have done everything...and I mean EVERYTHING there is to do as far as missions. I have done all the side missions, most if not all of the unexplored planet missions, and all but one loyalty mission. As soon as I do that I will be nearing the end missions I am sure. The one complaint I have is the manner in which you have to mine for metals. Quite possibly the most boring and tedious minigame ever. It really puts a wrench in the flow of the game sadly, but once you are done you do feel rewarded by the things you can unlock with the proper materials. I still have some stuff to do and some achievements to unlock, but it should all be tied together soon. Also, I chose an Adept after much deliberation because I love biotics and I really wanted to get good with them, but the one thing I hated was that I couldn't use Assault Rifles. Well, I can hopefully help you all rest easy if you have a similar dilemma because about 60% of the way into the game you get a chance to learn how to use a new weapon. I chose Assault Rifles. Adepts with AR's ftw.
I agree with you on the scanning for metals mini game, as does every single other person, I would guess. I wouldn't be surprised if they soon patched it to where when you purchase the upgrade to the scanner, instead of making it more sensitive it will make it move just as fast as if you weren't scanning. I'm planning on playing as either the Adept or the Infiltrator in my second playthrough. I'm only about 16 hours in and done 5(?) out of my 11 squadmates' loyalty missions. Since you've done most of them, I'd like to ask you which loyalty power you think is the best to learn. Not knowing exactly how the research upgrade would work, I used it as soon as I had done Jacob's and was forced to learn his Barrier. Not the worst power, but definitely not the best.
Do an Adept for sure, I was wary at first, but after playing for some solid time all my apprehensions were removed. The power system flows much better so it's easier to be a class that focuses more on powers rather than weapons. Also anybody's favorite weapons? I've always been a huge sniper fan since the first one, and I admit I was disappointed when I couldn't get an achievement to unlock it for other characters, but to my surprise during one of the missions, you are allowed to pick another weapon to use, I was so excited! Thane easily became my favorite character the moment I saw vids of him, not only was he a ****ing assassin, but he was also a biotic, as well as the Drell race looks very cool. The emotional level tied into Thane's character is astounding though, he has a lot of personality, while still retaining that cool edge of an assassin. Spoiler I was disappointed that he is going to die though, the potential of him being in the next game just dropped significantly Also the class revamps are great, I mean it no longer sucks to be a sentinel, before that class was pretty much you have to stay in cover 80% just to survive, which was obnoxious. I think in my second play through I may choose to either continue my 59 Vanguard from the first one, or choose a new class for ME1, and do some quick missions that I know will reflect in the second game, otherwise moving quickly. Still haven't decided, I have always been a biotic fan, so pretty much anything with biotics is a plus for me, so my choices would be Sentinel, Vanguard, or Adept of course. Either way, I wanna make sure that I have a completed ME1 game (I got ME2 to discover I pretty much had all my characters I wanted to use in the middle of a play through from ME1, I raged) The decisions they make for you are absolutely awful, and make the game worse IMO.
Oh, forgot to mention, I saw Wrex last night on Tuchanka. I have to admit, most of my run-ins with characters from ME1 have been disappointing, like Helena Blake just saying that she's staying out of trouble or just getting a ****ing email from the poor slave girl I spent 15 minutes convincing not to kill herself. However, Wrex's was actually really satisfying. It was a fairly short conversation, but it was awesome because of one thing: he was happy. In all of ME1 I don't think I even knew what a Krogan smile looked like, but I was smiling just as big as Wrex was as he jumped from his chair to come and greet me. He also seemed to really be making a difference in the Krogan fragmented clan problem and it now seems that he was really listening to me on the Normandy and taking into consideration everything I said. Wrex is just an awesome character.
I have just over 25 hours logged. And my main goal is to bang Miranda, after I ****ed up with her (Not going to spoil anything). Still, this story is the most enticing of any game I've played, rather than Halo lol. It's weird feeling attached to all the characters. Especially when I know in the end something dramatic will happen. I didn't play the first ME, but there's alot of things I've picked up on. I wish I had played it, but I'm now fairly solid on my mythology. Plus, there's many surprises in store for people that you would never imagine to happen while playing the first one.
Some problems I have with the game: -Loading screens are boring -Sprinting does not last nearly long enough. You'd think that a half-man, half-machine soldier who is in tip top shape would be able to sprint for more than 20 feet. -The 'skip' (X) button still goes ahead when skipping through talks. So if someone is talking and I hit X, then if their line is the last line before I get to choose my words, it will automatically choose the default thing. Can be really annoying at times. -The citadel is really boring now. I wish that we still had access to the full presidium instead of just Anderson/Udina's office. Otherwise, this game ****ing rules. Pro-tip for people who hate scanning for metals: I've figured out a way to speed up the process a little bit and make it less boring. What I do is push the right joystick a little bit to the left (or right, depending on what your preference is for the planet's rotation) so that the planet is slowly rotating. I then push the left joystick in a vertical motion (up and down). Once I hit either the top or bottom of the planet, I then just move the joystick in the opposite direction (i.e. if I hit the top of the planet, I move the joystick down so the reticule moves down the planet). Last is the part that I find actually speeds up the metal scanning. What I do is instead of holding down the LT button, I instead press it rapidly. Since this method is pretty orderly, I don't even need to watch the planet. I can just focus most of my attention on the scanner. I think this is by far the best way to do scan for metals. TL;DR Move the left joystick on a vertical path. Push the right joystick facing either left or right and hold it there. Rapidly tap LT instead of holding it down.
I lost Morlan RIIIIIGHHHHHTTTT at the end after the [SPOILER ALERT] battle. Oh, BTW... The [SPOILER ALERT] Battle was ****ING AMAZING Edit... Wow, that Screwed up. I quoted Creeping, I a posted above him...
Beat under 30 hours and having completed all the side/loyalty missions. The only way this game could POSSIBLY be over 50 hours is by getting every research unlock which requires sticking flags in almost every ****ing planet in the milky way. I suspect the only way to save teammates from the suicide mission is to lower the difficulty settings. I lost one person during a cinematic setting. The only value in replay comes from curiosity.
Ok, Just finished the game. Pretty good ending, ME3 should be pretty exciting. Couple of things: Shataki: I personally like the ammo mods that you gain from advanced training. I was Adept so I didn't feel the need to grab more powers and since I picked up an AR adding armor piercing or warp ammo (which is awesome) was an sweet perk. Your crew. If you look at the achievements there is one for returning without losing any of your crew. I don't know where I went wrong since I was picking the safe options but I lost a few members, including Archangel (noooo!). So word to the wise, choose carefully because you can very easily lose 4+ characters. I did. Sex. I tried so hard to get in Kelly or Miranda's pants. I had dinner with Kelly in my Cabin and I had Miranda come one to me a bit only to back off. Sady by the end of the game I seemed to have struck out with both since neither will give me the time of day. Strangely I barely had to try at all to bang another character. She basically threw herself at me. Unfortunately this character was Tali. Really? Tali? ***** doesn't even have a face!! I guess I have a thing for aliens cause I banged Liara in ME1. One interesting bit was my ability to take Tali's mask off after she took some antibiotics. And in case you were wondering, no they don't show her face. Weak!
I played on normal (which I kind of regret because I died maybe 2 times the whole game) and I lost 4 people total, evidenced in my spoiler Spoiler I lost Jack and Samara in a cut scene, Zaheed was revealed to have died after I asked him to escort the Normady crew back to the ship, and I lost Garrus aka Archangel to a swarm of bugs that carried him off. I can only suspect that Jack, Zaheed and Samara died because they were not loyal to me. Doesn't explain Garrus though, he was Loyal to me and I used him alot, he was a favorite companion of mine so it's sad he won't be in my ME3 game. Overall I spent 36 hours and I did every mission but didn't mine even half the planets.
I'll spoiler what I did and what happened. Spoiler Everyone was loyal except for Maranda even though I did her quest. Once I got back from saving her sister she and Jack got in a fight, but I didn't have a high enough paragon to be neutral. I appeased Jack, b/c I was working on doing her. So, Maranda wouldn't speak to me the rest of the trip. Anyways, I let Maranda be squad leader during the suicide mission. Tali was my tech specialists in the pipes, but when she was closing the door during the cinematics she got a rocket to the face. I was like wtf, cause I couldn't do anything about it. I sent Jack back with the survivors. I used Samara during the swarm room and I had Mordin and Grunt in my squad the whole time. Oh and as for the the human reaper, it was the easiest boss battle I've ever had. It would have been perfect in a game like God of War, but I don't think big bosses work well. Tougher mobile enemies are always more challenging. Imagine facing off against a brute chieftan. It would work so much better.
Ahh, yes. My situation was similar. Spoiler Except Jack never spoke to me again because I took Miranda's side. I totally thought I was gonna bang her after that but she never gave it up. Cold *****. And I agree on the boss. While the boss in itself was pretty cool it didn't completely fit the rest of the games moniker. I know it was supposed to be a human reaper, all big and tough, but it seemed....odd. Anyways, I blew up the ship also. Not sure if I chose not to that I would have been talked out of it anyways, but my second playthrough should reveal that because...... I also started a new Shepard. His name is Shitty Shepard and he picks all the shitty things to do. He's gonna be a total badass.
I chose the other endgame option. I'm going to start a new game but load my ME1 character. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick a new class besides soldier. I'm interested in the Infiltrator class.
For you guys losing people at the end, I lost 3 people my first time and did a replay to try and get the acheivement, here's what worked for me: Spoiler Legion as the tech specialist in the pipes. Garrus to lead the side squad Grunt escorted the crew back to the ship Jack for the shield Everyone was loyal to me and I had upgraded just about everything, which I think helps prevent those random deaths. The first time through I sent Mordin through the pipes, lost him to a rocket. Samara led the side squad, lost her. Jacob did the shield, it collapsed and I lost Thane, and Tali escorted the crew back to the ship, which I'm actually suprised in hindsight that nobody died on that mission. Also, don't bother playing Vanguard on Hardcore or higher difficulty. Shotguns are suicide, and if you use your Charge ability when there are more than one or two enemies left alive, you might as well just press start and load the last autosave to save time. On Normal I got myself killed with charge quite a lot too, but that was because I decided to be a badass charging all over the battlefield shotgunning crowds of Collectors in the face, and occasionally it didn't work. I'm starting an Infiltrator to play through on Insanity and get my last 2 achievements for this game now, incinerate the enemies' armor, and beat the game on insanity. Would've had the Insanity one before, but Mordin is worthless in combat so I gave up trying to keep his retard ass alive.
You need to make sure to do most, if not all of your ship upgrades to ensure everyone's survival. Mainly just things improving Normandy weapons and shields and stuff. I've not beaten the game yet, but that's what the developers said. I have a few questions for people to answer in the spoiler. Spoiler Once I go to obtain the Reaper IFF, how much of the game is left? Also, knowing that I'm about to get the Reaper IFF, how long until I get my Geth squadmate?