Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Johnny C]

last night i brought miranda up to my cabin and sat on the couch beside her but shepard just held onto what appeared to be an air guitar that he wasn't playing and miranda was standing up out of focus beside him so you could only see from her knees to about her elbows and all her limbs were splayed out and she was thrusting, and there's the occasional cutscene where the camera doesn't appear in the right spot, and during samara's loyalty mission the force of the biotic burst apparently made my xbox stop outputting sound soooo

[pilsner]

You know how I know you haven't been properly laid in quite some time?

[Johnny C]

oh do tell

[Johnny C]

i just wanted to share that bug cause it made what's already kind of an awkward thing to look at even more awkward

[JD]

It occurred to me the Illusive man is a lot like the Gman.

[Johnny C]

me3 is going to be a clusterfuck in terms of the Romance Options

i mean, depending on how they handle recurring characters. cause they said your choice in this game will impact your interactions with your me1 romance in the third game, which makes sense. it just seems like there's going to be a lot of ground to cover, and now that i think about it, it's not just in terms of romance. the whole game is going to be really interesting to see purely from that carryover vantage point - by making the main side quests crucial to character survival, they've guaranteed that any of the characters who make it into the next game are going to have had a bunch of different choices made about them. and the characters that don't make it into the next game probably aren't going to go unremarked.

i haven't had a chance to see what happens if you kill wrex, but obviously the krogan leader is different. i wonder how they're going to handle that with me2's new cast, plus me1's recurring characters. i also seriously wonder how many me2 characters are going to wind up playable in me3. and are romance options going to be playable party members? you wouldn't think so since potentially all of them except liara can die. in fact, that's true of literally every character. what the heck are they going to do!!

sorry, thinking out loud is really tough to read and care about, i know. i'm just really amazed at the dense, divergent narrative structure sitting under this game and i want to find out how they freaking handle it. next couple of years are gonna be agonizing.

[pilsner]

I'm looking forward to my Liara/Tali/New NPC fuckpile.  C'mon Bioware developers.  We know you have no integrity.  If you're going to do fan service, go the whole way.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

finished my male paragon sentinel last night. the only crew member i lost was Legion, which is not really a very big deal. But then I didn't get the achievement for having them all survive, so I was a little bummed.
Ended up romancing Tali on accident because my previous sweety (the asari, forgot her name) was all "i no longer have emotions, sorry shepard. peace out." and then I pissed Jack off, and I just kind of hate Miranda so....you see what I was left with. Plus, Tali's just so cute when she's stuttering and nervous. i might have actually went "aww" at some point

yeah, the last boss was a little disappointing but I don't even really care. It pretty much made sense so it's alright.


I'm just glad it's done for now so I can finally finish DA:O and then start up my Fallout 3 GOTYE that I picked up used yesterday. I haven't played any of the expansions yet so that should be fun.


question: Do you still get the achievment for having everyone survive if you don't recruit them all? Is it even possible to get that far without recruiting everybody?

[Storm Rider]

I'm looking forward to my Liara/Tali/New NPC fuckpile.  C'mon Bioware developers.  We know you have no integrity.  If you're going to do fan service, go the whole way.

Going in I wasn't too worried about sleeping around on Liara because asari are supposed to have a very detached view of relationships due to their long lifespans. But then she went a little crazy between games, so uh... this could go badly for me. Oh well, by the time ME3 comes out I'll probably have 3 separate save files to import anyway.

[pilsner]

I definitely got the sense that Liara had moved on during the 2 years you were dead, what with her obsessive quest to kill the Shadow Broker on behalf of a mysterious man to whom she owed her life.  Sorry dude.  There are plenty more blue chicks in the (galax)sea.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

There are plenty more blue chicks in the (galax)sea.

how many points did you have to put into your Pun Skill to come with that? I really like it.

[Storm Rider]

I definitely got the sense that Liara had moved on during the 2 years you were dead, what with her obsessive quest to kill the Shadow Broker on behalf of a mysterious man to whom she owed her life.  Sorry dude.  There are plenty more blue chicks in the (galax)sea.

It's cool, I like Miranda more anyway. As long as she doesn't put my head through a biotic blender, I'm OK.

[KvP]

question: Do you still get the achievment for having everyone survive if you don't recruit them all? Is it even possible to get that far without recruiting everybody?

In order to get to the endgame, you need Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, Garrus, Grunt (or completed the Grunt mission but kept him in stasis) and one team member from the latter half of the game. Loyalty missions optional.

I wouldn't be surprised if you get fucked up without a full team, though. And your party members will die if you don't undertake their loyalty missions.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Yeah, I figured as much.

I'm just planning ahead so on my next playthrough I can do as little work as possible and still finish. I still can't believe stupid Legion got his head blown off, that jackass.


speaking of Legion; can someone tell me what he says when you ask him about his N7 armor? He told me that he recovered it from the wreckage, but when I went to ask him why he kept it/attatched it to himself, I accidentally quit the conversation and couldn't ask again.

I was really curious about why he did that too, but I flubbed it.

[BrilliantEraser]

He doesn't actually answer. He just looks around furtively and I think says "A consensus has not been reached."

Something like that.

[Storm Rider]

He sort of pauses for a moment and then says "no data found". It implies that Legion (or at least, the geth network that he consists of) has developed some sort of emotion, or at least some interest in/connection to Shepard that he can't quantify in logical terms. I really hope they develop that more in ME3, because I think Legion and the 'true' geth are one of the more interesting wrinkles added to the ME universe in this game.

[Storm Rider]

Damn you, Ibby!

[JD]

I survived with everyoneeee

[maxusy3k]

Finished my first playthrough of the game tonight, clocked in around 30 hours with all the loyalty missions but not much else - didn't go in for any involved planet scanning or anything.

I don't like the new scanning system at all. As boring as the Mako got, I'd prefer a return to that than the scanning system currently in place - particularly when you bear in mind the Mako was only involved whenever there was a potential side mission available. Having to scan EVERY PLANET in a system to grab resources just feels like a ridiculous burden and makes the idea of going for any kind of completionist run through pretty cringe-worthy.

I didn't manage to save everybody - Tali got shot right in her face pretty early on, but I believe I've figured the mechanics anyway. If I'm right - loyal team members = alive team members - I am a little disappointed about that, too, though I suppose it's only fair. Tali lost her loyalty after she had a fight with Legion and I backed it up so, too bad for her, I guess. Even if I did nearly cry.

On the whole though, I really enjoyed it and I'm certainly going back for more. Completing it without pursuing a romance made the bit before going through the relay pretty depressing, though, moreso when my Shepard was gazing longingly at Ashley's photo on his desk, and he screwed Jack after getting back from Horizon. Getting Ash's email after that escapade where she was all "sorry for being a bitch" was like "Whoops!".

Highlights included:

- Playing as Joker
- The whole thing of not knowing if I had any control over whether my team would survive or not, which made the climax a lot more thrilling than in most games
- Samara's loyalty mission and some of the club dialogue
- My renegade dude Shepard looking like the god-damned Terminator by the end of the game

Quite annoyed at some of the bugs that made it through though... somebody in the other thread mentioned the sound crapping out during the apartment fight in Samara's mission and it happened to me too... I also had to reload an earlier save after the platform fight just before the Reaper at the end since Garrus got himself stuck and became unresponsive, locking him (and therefore the game) in combat. Also had a few cutscene issues which kind of broke the immersion a little.

I like Legion's character and angle... bit of a shame he doesn't show up until so late in the game.

[KvP]

Having to scan EVERY PLANET in a system to grab resources just feels like a ridiculous burden and makes the idea of going for any kind of completionist run through pretty cringe-worthy

As far as I'm aware there's no achievement for depleting the resources of all planets, so a "completionist run through" shouldn't entail scanning more than the 4 or 5 star systems required to get all the relevant upgrades.

I didn't manage to save everybody - Tali got shot right in her face pretty early on, but I believe I've figured the mechanics anyway. If I'm right - loyal team members = alive team members

Not necessarily. Disloyal team members will die, but loyal team members can die based on who you choose for the end-game tasks. I'm pretty sure only Tali and Legion can do the hacking without dying, but they can still die based on your choice of first team leader.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

I had a loyal Legion do the hacking and he still got his shiny head blown off.

[pilsner]

My paragon veteran Vanguard playthrough had no one die at the end, Legion doing the hacking, Garrus leading the first group, Tali taking the rescued crew members back, Samara doing the biotic shield and Garrus leading the second group.  So, assuming that difficulty doesn't have an impact, that combination seems to work.  Everyone was loyal, and I had purchased all available ship upgrades, of course.

Incidentally, not getting everyone may deprive you of one of the ship upgrades, which I assume will get someone killed -- can anyone confirm what happens if you don't have the upgraded ship gun, shield or armor?

[Johnny C]

- Playing as Joker
- The whole thing of not knowing if I had any control over whether my team would survive or not, which made the climax a lot more thrilling than in most games

Yeah and yeah.

Legion is a really cool character. Yeah.

Also if you don't want Mordrin to die you ought to send him back with the crew. Fucking asshole just died on me for no good reason.

[Blue Kitty]

As far as I know Garrus, Miranda, or Jacob should lead the groups, and Tali or Legion should do the hacking.  Anything else and they may die.  I had Legion do the hacking, but Zaaed leading the group and Legion got his head taken off by a rocket.

Also either use Jack or Samara/Morinth for the biotic and everyone should be just fine. Plus, you know, they should be loyal to you.

I had a scary moment after the second part where Garrus got hit, but it turns out he was just fine.

[Johnny C]

Yeah - that happened to me with Miranda and I almost lost my mind. It's an endgame trick that will only work once, but boy did it ever work.

[Storm Rider]

OK, here's the deal for all the possible solutions to the suicide mission:

Tali or Legion can handle the vents. If you send somebody other than those two, they'll die, and if you have a bad person leading the first fire team, the person in the vents will die no matter who it is.

Garrus, Miranda, and Jacob can lead the fire teams successfully. A lot of people in the SA thread used Zaeed, because they're dumb and didn't pay attention to the fact that he pretty much always got his team killed.

Anybody can safely escort the crew, as long as they're loyal. If you send a disloyal person back they'll get iced, if you send nobody back with them the crew dies.

Samara or Jack can do the biotic shield. If you pick somebody else, then the game picks one of the two squad members with you in the shield section at random and kills them.

Anybody who goes with you to the final boss has to be loyal or they'll get killed by the debris.

As Johnny mentioned, apparently Mordin can die for no apparent reason even if you do all these steps right. There's no indication whether this is a bug or just an unlucky roll of an RNG or something, but it's easy to fix if you send him back with the crew or bring him with you to the final boss.

[maxusy3k]

That's pretty good, then, and way better than the rigid logic I thought was behind it. Seems I got Tali killed by having her being disloyal then, since I had her up in the vent.

[Johnny C]

Yeah - with the exception of Mordrin, I've never heard about anyone dying where the player didn't bring it on themselves.

[Buttfranklin]

Actually, there is a reason for why Mordin can die.  It's not mere randomness at all.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1117936&lf=8

Makes sense, really.

[Blue Kitty]

I'm not seeing it, besides the speculation that you need to leave the natural leaders behind.

[Ozymandias]

Man, I didn't want to bone Tali going into this game and was going to aim for Miranda but that dang quarian was so dang adorable that I couldn't not.

Fucking great from start to finish.

Need ME3 now.

[kemon]

holy crap!  you mean all that talking to people and learning about their pasts means we're supposed to work out the implications of their actions on the extremely important mission that no one is expected to survive unless everyone does the job they were specifically recruited for because they are the best of the best?

in the word of dr. drew, shockiiiiiing!

[Thomas Edison]

Why are people not fucking Miranda?!

[Johnny C]

1) she isn't real
2)

[Johnny C]

Actually, there is a reason for why Mordin can die.  It's not mere randomness at all.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1117936&lf=8

Makes sense, really.

it doesn't make sense cause the person i sent back was grunt and nobody else had died. beyond that, how could mordrin lead a goddamn crew of people back through the collectors' ship but not hold his own alongside garrus, jacob, samara, etc.? it's the only thing in the game that drives me crazy.

[Thomas Edison]

I am worried by how long it took the guy on that forum to figure out why Kelly kept dying for him.

[Felrender]

Actually, there is a reason for why Mordin can die.  It's not mere randomness at all.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1117936&lf=8

Makes sense, really.

it doesn't make sense cause the person i sent back was grunt and nobody else had died. beyond that, how could mordrin lead a goddamn crew of people back through the collectors' ship but not hold his own alongside garrus, jacob, samara, etc.? it's the only thing in the game that drives me crazy.

Mordin was once a member of the Special Task Group, and is good at stealth.  This is mentionedalmost every time you speak with him.

[Buttfranklin]

Actually, there is a reason for why Mordin can die.  It's not mere randomness at all.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/1117936&lf=8

Makes sense, really.

it doesn't make sense cause the person i sent back was grunt and nobody else had died. beyond that, how could mordrin lead a goddamn crew of people back through the collectors' ship but not hold his own alongside garrus, jacob, samara, etc.? it's the only thing in the game that drives me crazy.

I didn't send back Mordin and he survived the "hold the line" sequence.  It's still partly random.

And Mordin actually is good for leading the crew back since he's an expert at stealth, reconnaissance, and subterfuge.  If anyone could sneak by the Collector forces it'd be him.  (That said, anyone who is loyal can successfully escort the crew back.)  And there's a difference between being on the move and escorting non-combatants versus buckling down behind cover for X amount of minutes under intensive fire.  Although both are very stressful, one is far better suited for the type like Grunt, who thrive under direct pressure versus the type like Mordin, who has experience operating behind enemy lines with a small team without direct engagement.

[Ozymandias]

I didn't send Mordin either. I just also took non-defenders with me to fight the reaper.

It's not random, it's just complex.

[JD]

Mordin hasn't died on me once.

[Ozymandias]

Oh, I forgot.

Say we make a little bet.  Loser has to post a photo of themselves in a dress.  And to specify, I'm betting that it will be revealed in the final chapter that the Illusive Man is not human but either an alien or a robot.  C'mon tough guy, let's see the courage of your convictions.

Taking you up on this bet so hard. Not the least of which because I look damn good in a dress, but also if this were true then the Renegade ending they seem to be leading up to won't happen.

[pilsner]

My secret plan to give myself an excuse to appear on the forums in a dress is working.

[Buttfranklin]

Currently playing as an Infiltrator in a Hardcore playthrough and just did Tali's recruitment mission.

Managed to save Kal'Reegar even when telling him to distract the Colossus.  Took a few very frustrating tries (culminating in me dying and yelling "GODDAMNIT!" and then my dog looked at me and gave me a look that said, "WHAT THE HELL, MAN, CHILL OUT" and then it went back to sleep) but finally managed to do it.  Still was a fun boss fight.

One thing I like about the game is how it's always changing little things up.  Like the biotic power increases in Samara's recruitment mission, where if you went into the gas your biotic powers would increase dramatically but if you went up too much you'd die - but then the same thing happened for the enemy, too.  Or in Tali's recruitment mission where if you were in the sunlight then your shields would drain.  (Fun tip: bring Grunt for Haestrom since the sunlight doesn't affect his armor.)

[JD]

I want Kal'Reegar as a heavy weapons specialist in the third game.

[Felrender]

I want Kal'Reegar as a heavy weapons specialist in the third game.

Him and an rocket launcher called "Vera".

[JD]

Also hey wouldn't garrus and tali taste sweet, because Dextro amino acids are like Dextrose?

[JD]

Reed you're a magic science man, tell me if that makes any sense.

[Reed]

Not in the least, dextro is referring to their chirality. Any asymmetric organic molecule can be divided by the way it rotates light. So dextro and levo amino acids are exactly the same, with the exception being how the side groups around the alpha carbon are arranged. The only organisms on earth known to use D-amino acids are bacteria that use them structurally, not as the building blocks of proteins. I'm not 100% certain, but I think that their statements about D-amino acids causing allergic reactions in humans is bullshit. Chances are the amino acids simply wouldn't be processed by your body and would just be flushed out. Dextrose (glucose) is just a monosaccharide (and surprisingly not that sweet on its own, sucrose is much sweeter [I was actually curious about this so I tasted one of our 20% glucose stocks in lab]).

d-alanine:



l-alanine:


dextrose:

[Reed]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes today's lesson in biochemistry.

[kemon]

I want Kal'Reegar as a heavy weapons specialist in the third game.

Him and an rocket launcher called "Vera".

word.   it would be awesome to have him come back in 3.  also, i really get the impression that he's sweet on tali.  but she's mine!   well, my engineer's anyway.