I'm Commander Shepard and this is also my favorite thread on Obsidian

[Deraldin]

am not certain if we is disturbed or relieved regarding legion and the widow sniper rifle. makes sense that bio had to balance in some manner. is the mantis similarly gimped? would almost needs to be otherwise it would make more sense to have legion keeps using the mantis.

 

is all squad weapon damage 43% of shep's?

 

Squad weapon damage is supposed to be around 60% of the damage dealt by Shepard with the same weapon.

 

EDIT: Apparently I was wrong. Numbers has more concrete info.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Deraldin

[213374U]

is all squad weapon damage 43% of shep's?

Err... no. It seems to be a "fine-tuned" value for each weapon. For instance, henchman Mantis deals 0.55x of normal (Shep's) damage, but the Viper deals 0.65x. Most values are around 0.5 for henchman damage. Probably a way to compensate for their integrated aimbot, I'm guessing. Which is kinda funny, considering that the people shooting at YOU have the same values set between 1 and 1.1.

 

edit: everything is in the coalesced.ini. Look for "DamageHench" for each concrete value. Follow these instructions to safely edit or browse through that file. And make a backup.

Edited March 12, 2010 by 213374U

[jaguars4ever]

My poor squadies. They're gimped with a damage reduction you say?!

 

Well, at least they never run out of bullets.

[mr insomniac]

That actually explains a great deal... like why I have to do most of the killing.

 

Gotta say also that I'm liking the geth pulse rifle. It was totally worth getting. All weapons in ME2 should look and sound this cool.

[HoonDing]

I wish Legion could be upgraded to a Geth Prime after his loyalty mission. Just for the coolness factor.

 

Maybe then he would not be ignored by everyone on the Citadel.

[Guest Slinky]

Maybe then he would not be ignored by everyone on the Citadel.

What? But that would improve immersion! I'm pretty sure creating any kind of immersion is strictly prohibited in the unholy stone tablet of Bioware's 10 commandments of making games

 

Well, at least he (or it?) was noticed in the migrant fleet.

[Raithe]

Technically, they can sort of get away with it on the Citadel with a slight reach.... Very few people actually recognise Geth beyond the name.. Until those "heretics" teamed up with Sovereign.. no-one had seen the Geth (apart from the Quarrian fleet) for a few hundred years.. So the people that saw them during Sovereign's attack were mostly killed...

 

When you go walking around the Citadel.. most of the people there wouldn't even have seen pictures of what a Geth looked like.. they just know the scary stories and the name of them...

 

So, technically a reason..

[Guest Slinky]

The Geth attack Eden Prime and the Citadel, and the general public nor the friggin C-Sec who fought them in citadel doesn't even know what they look like?

 

"Wizard did it" says the Bio devs in the background

[Raithe]

The Geth attack Eden Prime and the Citadel, and the general public nor the friggin C-Sec who fought them in citadel doesn't even know what they look like?

 

"Wizard did it" says the Bio devs in the background

 

Yep, survivors of Eden Prime - besides the crew of the Normandy? There were about 4 people .. so, wow, yes, randomly run into them on the citadel while you're with a Geth..

 

and the Citadel.. most of the Geth were in the ships, not on the citadel.. and when Saren led that force of Krogan and Geth from the mini-Mass Relay to the Tower.. they were killing everybody as they went. Know how many survivors there were then? Didn't seem to see many as you went along.. C-Sec didn't really fight them, the security systems were scrambled, and C-Sec are based out of the lower wards , not stationed on the Presidium where the Geth went through on their way to the Tower..

 

So, if you look at it in that squinty way, how would people really know to recognise them on sight? The Council cleaned up a lot of the information about what happened and did a nice spin-control press release.. Do you think they really made a point of showing Saren and Geth pictures around to everybody in warning?

[Oner]

Do you think they really made a point of showing Saren and Geth pictures around to everybody in warning?

Yes.

[Guest Slinky]

It's just these things, like human colonies go *poof* and everybody just shrugs

 

I like the game, but I just can't squint enough.

[Raithe]

Humanity is just a minor blip in the population level of every other alien species that share the Citadel and are organised under the Council's general "rule".

Apart from the first encounter with the Turians, and Shephard fighting of 'Saren' and his Geth Army, most of the galactic community doesn't really care two figs for Humanity..or show much awareness of them apart from the "potential pushy new race". Why should they give a crap about some human colonies disapearing?

And for the Human Alliance, all the colonies are the ones that are outside the Alliance's jurisdiction, they chose to go that far to get away from the Alliance. Would you be worrying over much why groups that didn't want you involved suddenly start disapearing?

 

I'm not saying it's great writing.. just.. that's the way it could be taken from a certain point of view....

[Guest Slinky]

I'm not saying it's great writing.. just.. that's the way it could be taken from a certain point of view....

The point of view that doesn't make any sense at all? I know what you mean, but it's just too mind boggling to me.

 

Anyway, looks like the new squad member DLC might have a price tag. Hopefully it has more content than Zaeed then.

[213374U]

My poor squadies. They're gimped with a damage reduction you say?!

 

Well, at least they never run out of bullets.

Actually, it gets better. Difficulty levels modify their health totals somehow... lower, the higher the difficulty level, obviously. For baddies, it's the other way around. =/

 

 

 

I'm not saying it's great writing.. just.. that's the way it could be taken from a certain point of view....

The thing with the colonies does have a somewhat acceptable explanation. Legion and C-Sec is just retarded. I'm all for comic relief, but using it in place of consistency only creates absurd situations, and this isn't a Monty Python game.

 

 

Anyway, looks like the new squad member DLC might have a price tag. Hopefully it has more content than Zaeed then.

I don't get this. Zaeed has as much content as any other squadmate. The only thing he lacks is a conversation wheel. But considering how little other squadmates have to say if they aren't a viable LI, I don't see what's the big deal. Except for Mordin.

 

I would totally pay $1 USD for Zaeed DLC.

 

Anyway, I wonder if this Kasumi DLC is the same as Liara's, or maybe they aren't done making stuff for ME2?

Edited March 12, 2010 by 213374U

[Darth Drabek]

btw, we has no personal use for personal shields, barriers or fortification as a power choice. lack o' cover typical results in death in less than 3 seconds. a level 4 shield or fortification means you can survive outside cover for an additional 1.5 second? wow.

 

sentinel looks like it is fun... access to throw, warp and overload? engineer ain't bad neither with overload, incinerate and the level 4 combat drone. our favorite is probable infiltrator with warp ammo as a bonus power. when we look at the numbers, the most effective is probable the soldier with the revenant assault rifle and warp ammo as a bonus power. dunno.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Sentinel is fun. That was the class I chose for my first playthrough, as I was concerned about staying alive but wanted more flexibility than a soldier provides. The sentinel's tech armor really helps a lot with the "staying alive" part. I'll bet it's better than the protection-type of bonus powers (barrier, fortification, geth shield).

 

It has an unlimited time duration, so if you make good use of cover you can actually activate it once and have it last the entire mission. Even if you play more aggressively, the armor always lasts longer than its cooldown, so you can generally reactivate it as soon as it's breached.

 

It also creates a nice explosion around you when it goes down, which makes kamikaze rushing a horde of husks a feasible strategy.

 

I'm on my second time through now, playing an adept. Adepts may have a tough time with enemies sporting multiple layers of protection, but NOBODY wipes out a room of peons with more style. Those singularity+warp combos you keep hearing about? They really are all that and a bag of chips.

[Hurlshort]

If you are concerned about immersion, maybe you should make the logical choice and not take a Geth into the Citadel in the first place. You are the one making the dumb choice there, don't blame the developers for not being able to create new content for every lamebrain scenario.

[Volourn]

".. most of the people there wouldn't even have seen pictures of what a Geth looked like"

 

You do realize that not all Geth look the same right?

 

 

"wheel. But considering how little other squadmates have to say if they aren't a viable LI, I don't see what's the big deal. Except for Mordin."

 

This simply not true. Most of the npcs - even the non LI - have their share of dialogue. I romanced nobody, and get to talk them a lot. Even after I rejected potential LI they still talked to me a fair bit. *shrug*

Edited March 12, 2010 by Volourn

[213374U]

If you are concerned about immersion, maybe you should make the logical choice and not take a Geth into the Citadel in the first place. You are the one making the dumb choice there, don't blame the developers for not being able to create new content for every lamebrain scenario.

Huh?

 

So, it's somehow my fault that the writers couldn't think of a better way to fix the mess they had created themselves by allowing you to walk around with the ****ing bogeyman?

 

Right man, I'll get back to you when Pedobear replaces Udina as chairman. I'm betting that'll be my fault, too!

[Gromnir]

sssshhhhh. legion gots the n-7 armour... he is in disguise as an alliance battle-bot, but that is a secret.

 

dunno. the notion o' immersion is kinda silly and flexible. is better to consider practical solutions, no? preclude legion from citadel (and most other civilized worlds) results in players crying that you got a joinable character that is functional useless in many parts of game. at the same time, you really think the developers is gonna create considerable new content to deal with a new mini-geth incursion on the citadel? doubtful. so, what is practical solution?

 

would a couple o' queries from the c-sec officer doing your scan at the citadel have been enough to save immersion?

 

Sir, may I inquire about the geth in your party?

 

dialogue wheel:

 

piss off mate

the answer to that question is above your pay grade

(bribe 500 credits)

 

actual response regardless of your choice

 

I'm a Spectre. Ask the council if you want answers.

 

silly dialogue wheel. no doubt the biowarians considered options and decided that it weren't worth the effort to implement to pander to a handful o' folks who were hoping to create panic on the citadel or illium or wherever. still, we probably woulda' thrown in one or two token dialogue options just to let the player know that their juvenile clowning had not gone unnoticed.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[AutomaticMeat]

I seem to recall Anderson making a remark about Legion, I may have imagined it though.

[Enoch]

I seem to recall Anderson making a remark about Legion, I may have imagined it though.

I didn't bring Legion to see him, but I did try to inform him that the Geth aren't all psychotic. He gave me a quick 'keep your mouth shut, the Council thinks you're insane enough already' talk.

[Gromnir]

I seem to recall Anderson making a remark about Legion, I may have imagined it though.

I didn't bring Legion to see him, but I did try to inform him that the Geth aren't all psychotic. He gave me a quick 'keep your mouth shut, the Council thinks you're insane enough already' talk.

 

given the pervasive fear o' AI we saw from peoples in me1, Gromnir were more than a little surprised by how easily we were able to welcome legion aboard the new normandy... not to mention the presence of an active AI on the SR-2. were an almost dune-like fear of AI in me1... and those fears were seeming reasonable especially in light of geth and sovereign attack on the citadel. me2 has a different AI pov that not seem to mesh with the impression we got from me1. felt... odd. weren't game busting by any stretch o' the imagination, but me2 peoples were far too accepting of AI given the manner in which the developers were really hammering on the AI evils in me1.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guest Slinky]

dunno. the notion o' immersion is kinda silly and flexible. is better to consider practical solutions, no? preclude legion from citadel (and most other civilized worlds) results in players crying that you got a joinable character that is functional useless in many parts of game. at the same time, you really think the developers is gonna create considerable new content to deal with a new mini-geth incursion on the citadel? doubtful. so, what is practical solution?

I really don't understand how do you see immersion as silly and flexible, which can't be achieved wihout being impractical? Then again, I don't understand half of the stuff you write

 

My answer to it would be cutting the total amount of squad mates and putting more resources to the remaining ones. It might be juvenile clowning to you, Pvt. Pyle, when people around you react to their surroundings, but it really isn't to me.

[Gromnir]

dunno. the notion o' immersion is kinda silly and flexible. is better to consider practical solutions, no? preclude legion from citadel (and most other civilized worlds) results in players crying that you got a joinable character that is functional useless in many parts of game. at the same time, you really think the developers is gonna create considerable new content to deal with a new mini-geth incursion on the citadel? doubtful. so, what is practical solution?

I really don't understand how do you see immersion as silly and flexible, which can't be achieved wihout being impractical? Then again, I don't understand half of the stuff you write

 

 

 

 

am betting you understand... you just don't realize or wanna admit.

 

what is immersion?

 

how is immersion achieved?

 

that which breaks immersion for deathdealer is likely to be same for Gromnir, vol, and enoch?

 

please.

 

anybody that has spent as much time on these boards as your post count implies is fully aware that "immersion" is a very fluid term and meaningless without context. most developers when faced with "immersion" criticisms become understandably brusque. so... Gromnir cuts out all the unnecessary "lets define immersion" nonsense and got straight to point where such discussions must inevitably end: practical solutions. skip the "immersion" prattle and suggest practical approaches that would improve "immersion."

 

HA! Good Fun!

[213374U]

I seem to recall Anderson making a remark about Legion, I may have imagined it though.

Yeah, he reacts. If Legion were Shepard's keychain, I'm not sure his reaction would be much less dramatic, though.

 

What left me scratching my head wrt C-Sec/Legion exchange is that they at least tried to write an in-character reaction when you bring Legion to the Flotilla. Ofc, Shepard convinces or bludgeons through to get his way, but that's not important, it's consistent with game narrative elsewhere. On the Citadel, it's an absurd and ridiculous situation that isn't even nearly as humorous as intended. It's just... lazy.

 

 

It might be juvenile clowning to you, Pvt. Pyle, when people around you react to their surroundings, but it really isn't to me.

Bringing the EVIL baby-eating machine to the citadel *is* a pretty silly call. If you do it, you are either fooling around, or roleplaying a fool -- I'd be happy if a cutscene or popup prevented me from acting like a jackass, as would be consistent with the game in other situations. In fact, the option to roleplay Larry Shepard doesn't really exist, as the tone of the game doesn't leave room for that. It's no big deal, but it's a bit of a "WTF?" moment. I'm not going to touch the question of whether that does indeed break immersion or not. Edited March 12, 2010 by 213374U