Chrisimo
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Posts posted by Chrisimo
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Good points. But they could do it when they imagined the Thorian, the rachni, the Reapers, the geth...It only becomes silly for sure when you look at it from a human perspective and apply human standards to other species.I'm not sure I understand you here. Did you mean to say that they didn't use this stereotyping when imagining the Thorian, the Rachni, etc.? Or that they should have done it with them?
Because the examples you mention aren't yet explored enough to make any decisions about whether they are all alike or not.
As for the more anthropomorphic species, the krogan are the only race lacking individual distinctiveness past the cultural stereotyping. Quarians, turians, asari, you meet a lot of different characters. Krogan... not so much. Even the "scientists" have a warlike mindset. Didn't work for Klingons, doesn't work for krogan.And no, a culture like that couldn't have discovered fission. It would have been destroyed while trying to attack cultures with a more utilitarian approach to war. War isn't about who has the toughest warriors - it's about who has the biggest production and the most manpower. It's debatable whether the krogan culture in Mass Effect is a product of the defeatism and irredentism brought about by the genophage... but that doesn't do anything about the lack of depth of krogan NPCs.
Hmm, not sure about that. The Krogans are warmongers, allright. But a lot of it could be attributed to their destroyed homeworld or the genophage, as you said. Regardless of the explanation the Krogans are still a race that appeal to some of the audience (for some because of their lack of depth and for others despite of that). Maybe the warmonger mindset is the favorite to use for stereotypes, who knows. In any case I just wanted to say that there may be a good reason to have a race or culture where all members are alike. At least it makes it easier to love/hate those species
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Except those two races (IIRC about the orks butc ertainly it applies to the POTA gorillas) are extremely shallow and 100%one dimensional with no redeeming value whatsoever. The krogans as prone to violence and war like they are do have some. You meet a lot of krogans who are more than just about violence for just the sake of violence. Krogan have the potential to be redeemable, and it's not likem other races are totally innocent in that entire mess.
I wasn't judging the species or their implementation. I was just offering the thought that this 'stereotyping' is a common way to differentiate between humans and other species (aliens or whatever). The individuals of any species conceived by mankind will likely always be replaceable by a human in terms of mindset/motivation. But a species as a whole can be different to humankind as a whole at least in that regard. If the Krogans are 'redeemable' as you say that will be even more like humans. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just food for thought.
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They're just like Orks in 40k. Staple to have a warrior race in sci-fi settings, no ?
Or the gorillas in the old 'Planet of the Apes' movies.
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He was fine... except he's a krogan. I mean, the whole "KILL! MAIM! MURDER!" thing applied to an entire culture is quite silly.
I'm not sure it's silly. It's one of the few ways in which an alien species can actually be alien besides appearance. If you take any specific Alien out of Mass Effect (or other Universes for that matter) it will just be a human with different looks. We cannot truly imagine a real alien mind. So if the Krogan are actually all alike in that case it would at least be different than humans (as a species).
It only becomes silly for sure when you look at it from a human perspective and apply human standards to other species.
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Doesn't. Apart from being the most WTF?-moment in the game that I can remember,(though, taking the other path through her loyalty quest on this second playthrough might make it a bit more interesting).haxoring people
isn't really worth it.
And no, she don't put out either. :/
She does
but you die.
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Garrus: I wanted him neutral good in ME1, but he came off as chaotic good instead. Which I'm not sure I appreciate. Oh well, still have a playthrough to fine-tune him somehow.Garrus: Fav character from ME1. Didn't disappoint this time around. Love how he retained the psychological hardening I taught him in ME1.Legion: Awesome addition from a faction I didn't expect. Implemented really well (must take on Flotilla/Citadel). One of the more interesting characters from the ME universe. Rendition of The Robot was awesome!
Legion: Spoil me. If I dart for him from the beginning and lug him around everywhere, does that get my crew killed or not? You guys confused me.
You can get everyone including your crew through alive if you have at least 4 teammembers loyal (Garrus/Miranda, Jack/Samara, Tali/Legion, and someone else for the crew escort) and did all the upgrades (shields, armor and weapons).
As soon as you acquire Legion you can do two more missions until the crew gets captured. Then you have to go after them immediately if you want them to survive.
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Well I never liked Jack anyway...
Did anyone else die during the mission besides Jack and Tali?
Yes, albeit I did all the loyality missions. Only Miranda, Garrus, Grunt and that geth survived.
Then my theory regarding the door defenders still stands. There are three occasions where a seemingly random team member dies and I haven't figured out yet all the reasons that determine which member it will be.
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Well I never liked Jack anyway...
Did anyone else die during the mission besides Jack and Tali?
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Jack and Tali got killed instantly on the Normandy.
Guess not upgrading the ship had something to do with this...
True.
Missing armor upgrade = Jack dies
Missing weapon upgrade = Garrus or Thane dies
Missing shield upgrade = Tali or Legion dies (if you have both with them during the fight on the Normandy, someone else dies)
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Okay so I haven't finished the game yet but I know that several of your party members can die in this suicide mission, but has anyone worked out what exactly determines who dies (if anyone)? Is it loyalty? Is it who you choose when you're splitting your team up? Is it something sneaky like how many side missions you do, or upgrades you acquire? I wonder. Because I want to try and kill off Miranda, Jacob and Jack and make sure I don't screw up and actually kill off someone I want kept alive.
And also, **** you ice brandy - thought for sure I'd be able to take advantage of Dr. Chakwas, but looks like I needed some stronger stuff.
I think if want to 'kill' 3 people there will be other deaths as well.
There are three parts during the suicide mission. During the last part, Shepard goes to fight the end boss and the rest defends a door. If you had any deaths of teammates during the previous stages it is likely that one of the defenders of the door will also die. If you take two people with you to the last boss and they are both not loyal they will die, but you will probably die, too (haven't tried this yet, but it's very likely because one of them has to pull you into the Normandy).
My Tip would be:
Miranda, Jacob and Jack must not be loyal. All others must be.
1st part: Tali/Legion as tech specialist. Garrus as 2nd team leader.
2nd part: Samara as biotic specialist. Garrus as 2nd team leader. Jacob as crew escort (Jacob will die).
3rd part: Miranda and someone NOT Jack with Shepard ti fight the last boss. Jack has to be with the defenders. (Miranda will die, Jack probably, too)
I'm not sure about the door defenders. My guess is that you need 7 people to defend the door to have everyone of them survive. If that's true than killing off someone before that part means one of the defenders will die. Unless you have Zaeed. Then you still have 7 defenders left.
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No, the mission to visit the Collector-Ship comes several missions (of any type) after the mission on Horizon. But if you want to bring Legion on Tali's recruitment mission, you may not have enough time to save everyone.
It depends on what you've done when you go on the mission. You get two missions after the IFF before you lose crew members, so you have enough time to grab Tali and get her or Legion loyal before you start losing crew members. I'm going to end up losing Thane because Garrus is stuck in an infinite loop until I do his mission so I can't grab the weapon upgrade.
If you haven't recruitet Tali when you go on the IFF mission that means that you have to do at least three missions after the IFF mission if you want loyality for Tali and Legion. You can get everyone alive through the suicide mission with only 4 loyal squadmembers, though. And of course the upgrades.
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I just took Legion to recruit Tali.
"YOU HAVE A GETH BEHIND YOU!"
How can you do that? I thought you had to recruit everyone before the IFF mission.
No, the mission to visit the Collector-Ship comes several missions (of any type) after the mission on Horizon. But if you want to bring Legion on Tali's recruitment mission, you may not have enough time to save everyone.
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a bit of a misrepresentation, no? some powers you list is unlockable late in game, and some is only available on a subsequent playthrough. the average player with no meta-knowledge of game does not have such a robust list to choose from.
HA! Good Fun!
You can unlock every special power of your squadmates as soon as you get their loyalty. At least I could. And on my first playthrough, too. I had like 6 or 7 powers in the end, IIRC. True you don't see them from the start but if you make any upgrades at all (which is true for most players I guess) you will see them.
regardless, your initial list is more than a bit misleading. loyalty missions come After recruitment, and some npcs is not even initial recruit-able.
HA! Good Fun!
Granted, but what was the point? That there are less possible combinations for a character in ME2 than in ME1? That's only true at the beginning of the game. And ME1 has less options in the beginning, as well. You get more options after you become a Spectre and then some after the mission on Luna (if you take that mission). Do the powers not count because you have to earn them?
again, you is being misleading. a me 2 sentinel built by enoch or Gromnir or you will look pretty much identical by level 30. sure, maybe you got 1 point in a bunch o' bonus powers, but 'cause such powers is only available very late, your sentinel will not be very different from Gromnir's.
You will get bonus powers way before you are able to max out all of your basic powers. Most will be able to do the first loyalty missions when they have enough points to max out between 1 to 2 basic powers (10-20 Points needed for that). And no one forces you to max out powers, either. You could acquire 3 or 4 or 5 additional powers and only put 1 or 2 points in any of them. On my first playthrough I started with 4 basic powers and ended the game with 6 or 7 powers in total. One of them being Reave which I got fairly late in the game.
But I guess we have make a survey to see how much variety can be seen in ME1 characters and ME2 characters. Maybe most ME1 Sentinals looked the same, too.
Anyway, at least in theory you could make as many different combinations in ME1 as in ME2.
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a bit of a misrepresentation, no? some powers you list is unlockable late in game, and some is only available on a subsequent playthrough. the average player with no meta-knowledge of game does not have such a robust list to choose from.
HA! Good Fun!
You can unlock every special power of your squadmates as soon as you get their loyalty. At least I could. And on my first playthrough, too. I had like 6 or 7 powers in the end, IIRC. True you don't see them from the start but if you make any upgrades at all (which is true for most players I guess) you will see them.
regardless, your initial list is more than a bit misleading. loyalty missions come After recruitment, and some npcs is not even initial recruit-able.
HA! Good Fun!
Granted, but what was the point? That there are less possible combinations for a character in ME2 than in ME1? That's only true at the beginning of the game. And ME1 has less options in the beginning, as well. You get more options after you become a Spectre and then some after the mission on Luna (if you take that mission). Do the powers not count because you have to earn them?
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a bit of a misrepresentation, no? some powers you list is unlockable late in game, and some is only available on a subsequent playthrough. the average player with no meta-knowledge of game does not have such a robust list to choose from.
HA! Good Fun!
You can unlock every special power of your squadmates as soon as you get their loyalty. At least I could. And on my first playthrough, too. I had like 6 or 7 powers in the end, IIRC. True you don't see them from the start but if you make any upgrades at all (which is true for most players I guess) you will see them.
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Heh, I redid the ending and finally managed to get everyone through it alive..
Although I'm sort of amused by the way one of the cinematics changes...
right after the human-reaper gets owned and everything starts sliding.. Because I'd taken Grunt and Thane with me.. Grunt suddenly starts falling over the edge.. and Shep catches him by one arm..holds him, then pulls him up. I mean, okay, Shep's been enhanced a little by Cerberus..but the full weight of Grunt.. in battle armor.. by one hand and a nice shoulder pull?? It makes sense when it's Miranda falling off the edge. But Grunt??
Ha, I tried different combinations of Squadmates to see if that would happen but it never happened during my playthroughs
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I'm totally failing to see the relevance or the difference. You spend two points to unlock a new skill or four to max it.
Ok, maybe not totally, but I'm still not accepting the more boxes with more granular upgrades equals deeper character development argument.
Then you are simply not thinking hard enough. In ME1, a Sentinel has:
- Pistol talent branch
- Throw -> 3 different major levels, giving you the ability to knock around even Armatures when maxed
- Barrier
- Decryption -> again, 3 different levels allowing you to open containers of various difficulties
- First Aid
And can unlock:
- Lift - same as with Throw, max lift allows you to lift Armatures and Primes, making it worth it to max out
- Stasis
- Electronics - same as with Decryption
- Medicine - for Neural Shock
You can combine different proficiencies in those in any number of ways, and get a "prestige class" for added variety.
Whereas in ME2, a Sentinel gets:
- Throw
- Warp
- Tech Armor
- Overload
- Cryo Blast
Without dramatic differences between levels, except for the lame "evolutions". Refer to jags' coffee analogy, about those. ME1 could have done without the granular progression without making much of a difference, but that's not the point. There are less possible combinations in ME2, if you can count.
But hey, it's always fun to argue against mathematical facts, right?
In ME2, a Sentinel gets:
- Throw
- Warp
- Tech Armor
- Overload
- Cryo Blast
- Reave
- Slam
- Shockwave
- Armor piercing ammo
- Geth shields
- Fortification
- and some more
- Pistol talent branch
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Hm, and I'd have felt more oomph about being interested in the Achievements if they actually gave in-game benefits again..
Although I think if you get the loyalty achievements it opens up the "bonus skills" and you get to choose one from the beginning of any new game.
You can also get any of the bonus skills during the game through the research console. And you can get all of them together.
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I did the
dead Reaper
and Tali's loyalty quest last night. Spoiler request: How is
the dead Reaper bit different if you go there right away? Are some of the Cerberus crew still alive or something
? Also, on Tali's quest, I predictably failed the dialogue check at the end. I presume that making it
manages to acquit her of the treason charges
? (Personally, I don't really mind the outcome I got-- it's a more poetic sacrifice than making everything all better would be.)
The Reaper is always the same. But if you go there too soon you will be forced to make a choice regarding deaths.
The renegade option in the Tali case is really nice IMO. The admirals are not pleased
. Of course they will let her go after that. -
@Raithe: This is especially hilarious (end spoiler)
if you don't do what he wants at the end, talk about a waste of money
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@Jags: The dog tag search is just a mechanic to get you to see everything in the site. I think it's a nice stroll down the memory lane.
Hmm,
You at least stopped the Collectors from building a new Reaper who could trigger the invasion and destroy everything including Cerberus. That was his primary goal, as well (to stop the Collectors at least).
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The Illusive Man has to save money on something...
Yeah, he couldn't even pay for the needed resources so I had to scan all those xxxx planets..
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I'm not really sure that the Reapers are actually sleeping. Or maybe not completely. Harbinger seems to be among the Reaper fleet that is seen in the last scene. He probably tried to get another Reaper built to let the others through the Mass Relay.
The reason the Reapers are using human DNA is that they want to procreate and they are cyborgs and need part DNA. It seems very hard for them to find DNA, though, and the species have to be fairly advanded, too. That's the reason they let all those species evolve until they are fit for harvesting. And after they've done their harvesting they wipe out all those that are incompatible and start new. For some Reason the Reapers take the form of the species they are built from. Not because of the DNA but by choice of the creation. So they could choose another look if they wanted to. That's it in a nutshell as far as I understand it.
I guess that makes sense.
That still doesn't excuse the
horrible boss fight design, though
.
Yeah, I hate those most of the time.
The fight against Sovereign/Saren was ok, though.
For those who want to know it: Here is what I found out regarding the last mission and how to make it through:
The mission is split into three parts. Survival depends on selecting the right person for the job and whether that person is loyal to you
1st part:
Only the tech-specialist can die at that point. wrong/not loyal tech-specialist=death. wrong leader of the 2nd team=death. Maybe illoyal leader=death (not confirmed).
2st part:
biotic-specialist always lives, though choosing the wrong one (or one that isn't loyal) leads to the death of a member of your squad at that time). If you choose the wrong leader of the 2nd team or he/she is not loyal, the leader will die. You can choose anyone to escort the crew back to Normandy that is loyal.
3rd part:
You depart with two squadmembers to fight the final boss. Any squadmember of those two that is not loyal will die. The rest of the team stays back to defend the doors. One of them can die for various reasons. I haven't figured them all out yet. Sometimes it happens if one person already has died before.
For everyone to survive, you need to have them all loyal, have all Normandy upgrades and choose the right specialist and teamleader. The crew will be dead if you didn't go after them immediately after they were captured.
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I was speaking more from Bioware's point of view. The thing looked ridiculous and from what I can understand the only reason it served was to explain why the Collectors were abduction humans. I'm sure they could have come up with another, less ridiculous reason for that.
As for Harbinger, so he was another Reaper hiding around a corner(or a planet), controlling the Collector general? Why didn't he help them out against Shepard or the Normandy? Also, I thought that Sovereign was the only Reaper who wasn't sleeping, how many are there? Couldn't they just kill everyone now, why wait for the others?
I'm not really sure that the Reapers are actually sleeping. Or maybe not completely. Harbinger seems to be among the Reaper fleet that is seen in the last scene. He probably tried to get another Reaper built to let the others through the Mass Relay.
The reason the Reapers are using human DNA is that they want to procreate and they are cyborgs and need part DNA. It seems very hard for them to find DNA, though, and the species have to be fairly advanded, too. That's the reason they let all those species evolve until they are fit for harvesting. And after they've done their harvesting they wipe out all those that are incompatible and start new. For some Reason the Reapers take the form of the species they are built from. Not because of the DNA but by choice of the creation. So they could choose another look if they wanted to. That's it in a nutshell as far as I understand it.
@Chrisimo: You left a pretty important term un-'spoilered' there.Oh, yes, just realized that. I'm sorry, will try to be more careful next time..I have also edited my post...
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So, yay, I finished it as well.
Everything leading up to the end was awesome, the sweet dogfight in space, the part where you get to employ your team members in useful ways, Miranda shutting the Illusive Man off, people dieing.
What I didn't like was the end boss. A giant human Reaper? Really? And don't give me any of that crap about the Reapers "using their enemies' DNA". What possible advantage could having a ridiculous human body give to a giant space-faring race? That was just plain stupid.
Speaking of which, a boss fight where you have to hit the boss' weak spot(which was actually labeled that for extra hilarity). Really Bioware? I thought you were better than that. That last fight was straight out of a PS1 game.
Also, I didn't quite get who/what Harbinger actually was. Was he the human Reaper? The Collector general? Another Reaper?
One more thing, the Kelly(yeoman) romance was a total disappointment, you can't be bothered to do it correctly don't put it in the game at all.
Sorry about the rant.
Human Reaper:
Please remember that we are in space. The shape doesn't really matter. I agree it seems strange, but you are assuming that Reapers think like humans. The fight against it didn't seem to have a purpose, though. It didn't even do anything to me...
Harbinger
is the Reaper you can see talking to the Collector general soon before the station explodes. He can be seen on the datapad in the last scene on the Normandy, as well.
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Mass Effect 2 Discussion
in Computer and Console
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The Krogans are dying out because of their mindset. At least that much is said by Wrex. So it's not like the writers haven't thought about the problematic nature of the Krogan singlemindedness in relation to their survival. The fact that they installed Wrex as the leader shows that the writers think like you. Remember that before the genophage the Krogans at least had the numbers. If only one of 1000 births is successfull then they at least had the manpower aspect covered before the genophage. It is even possible that their wars were an effective way to keep the population in check. I think it would be really illuminating to have transcriptions of everything the writer have discussed during the creation of the Krogan species. It's easy to dismiss their development as stupid or lacking in thought when you do not know the writers thoughts behind that.