Mass Effect 3

[Oner]

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=313

[GhostofAnakin]

http://www.vgcats.co...s/?strip_id=313

 

It's funny because it's true.

[Oblarg]

So, I've been playing the game through on Insanity, and it's by far the easiest of the three. Playing a vangaurd with minimal weapon load (Disciple shotgun and Vindicator assault rifle), my powers cool down so fast that I can essentially afford to charge nonstop until the battle ends. The only enemies that give me trouble are phantoms - even the fight against two banshees in the Ardat Yakshi monastery was easily handled with charge -> roll away -> empty shotgun clip -> reload -> repeat.

[Gorth]

Vanguard is ridiculously easy. Has anybody ever played Soldier or Engineer?

 

Edit: Damn, game is already 30% off. I could have saved some money there.

[Janmanden]

I've played Vanguard, Infiltrator and Engineer.. Tried my hand with Sentinel and Adept too, but they don't quite fit my playing style and I am already done with the game. It's depleted apart from a few minor romances, like the one with Miranda that I haven't seen the end of (unless that black out at the sexy part on the Citadel was 'it'), and I am not that big on repetition and there is just too much of that now. Engineer is a bit too much of a key hell and it's quite annoying that it doesn't have any ammo types associated by default. I would like not to spend my bonus power on ammo type. Only other thing that really bothers me is that none of the 'turrets' are as effective as the Cerberus Engineers Turret, but Sabotage makes fighting Cerberus quite effective.. The combat drone sometimes do harassment nicely. Just wait for the Cerberus Engineer to set up his little helper and have it blow him away with sabotage.. It's almost too easy fighting Cerberus and Geth for that matter as well. On Mars in the Turret room there is a 'crack' in the window that let you 'summon' a combat drone inside the 'fish tank' and for some reason Cerberus only knows how to open doors when they are going to shut them behind to keep you out.. The stupidity of the AI in this game is shocking at times.. But things get more messy vs. the Reapers in the end.

 

The only thing that really annoy me isn't so much about the engineer, but the fact that most Heavy Pistols in general are heavier than SMG's and some Snipers. I like having a high Bonus Recharge Speed AND having a gun that can do some damage as well, which cuts it down to just one gun.. Mostly Sniper in my case.

[Jaesun]

I played Soldier and Engineer (LOL hack turret). Engineer was hysterically fun to play. <3

[Raithe]

At the moment I just can't stir my enthusiasm to get into multiplayer again.. knowing that over days the war readiness score will drop..and I'm having that "wait and see" urge on what dlc they might have to fix/add to things before I finish my second playthrough..

[Nepenthe]

At the moment I just can't stir my enthusiasm to get into multiplayer again.. knowing that over days the war readiness score will drop..and I'm having that "wait and see" urge on what dlc they might have to fix/add to things before I finish my second playthrough..

Yeah, I have similar feelings. The system that was designed to make people play mp seems to have the opposite effect.

[GhostofAnakin]

At the moment I just can't stir my enthusiasm to get into multiplayer again.. knowing that over days the war readiness score will drop..and I'm having that "wait and see" urge on what dlc they might have to fix/add to things before I finish my second playthrough..

 

The "wait and see" attitude is where I'm at, too. I don't have any urge to play through again until I see what this extended DLC thing adds. I certainly have no interest in playing again in its current state.

 

The MP got boring after I played all the maps a handful of times. Same game type, same wave of enemies, etc. just got boring.

[213374U]

The only thing that really annoy me isn't so much about the engineer, but the fact that most Heavy Pistols in general are heavier than SMG's and some Snipers. I like having a high Bonus Recharge Speed AND having a gun that can do some damage as well, which cuts it down to just one gun.. Mostly Sniper in my case.

Carnifex and especially Paladin are basically sniper rifles when fully upgraded. They weigh way less than that Widow or Black Widow and pack some serious punch. Can't have everything, which is a good thing I guess.

 

 

So, I've been playing the game through on Insanity, and it's by far the easiest of the three. Playing a vangaurd with minimal weapon load (Disciple shotgun and Vindicator assault rifle), my powers cool down so fast that I can essentially afford to charge nonstop until the battle ends. The only enemies that give me trouble are phantoms - even the fight against two banshees in the Ardat Yakshi monastery was easily handled with charge -> roll away -> empty shotgun clip -> reload -> repeat.

In SP where lag is not a factor, I've found the Graal is amazing. Charge the gun -> release the shot -> Charge yourself -> unload a second blast right after coming out of the Charge. With projectile delay you'll be landing 3 attacks with next to no delay which is enough to bring down protected mobs instantly. It's also pretty accurate over long distances so you don't need a backup gun. The downside is it's fairly heavy.

 

As for the ninjas, have Liara or Kaidan prime them, storm to Nova -> Charge -> shotgun blast to the face. I find enemies that can't be staggered such as Cerberus turrets much more troublesome. Those are responsible for like ~90% of my deaths or something.

 

Been trying some Gold matches lately, branch out a bit from the Asari Adept biotic bomb spam on FBW/G. PuGs are generally terrible. Doesn't help that my gear -and skill- isn't up to snuff and can't carry the team myself. :/

Edited April 29, 2012 by 213374U

[Giantevilhead]

I think the problem with Ashley is that more humans didn't have her attitude. Humans really should be more paranoid towards alien. Mass Effect takes place less than 30 years after humanity made first contact with aliens and it almost led to a massive war. Fear of alien influence on human culture should have been a big subplot. Considering how many ideas they took from Babylon 5, I'm surprised they didn't make Ceberus more like Homeguard or Nightwatch.

[Gorgon]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

[Raithe]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

Hah! I watched and enjoyed. Technically I got pulled into it by the gilfriend at the time. Since then I've developed a sincere appreciation for it.

You might not like it, but JMS is fairly influential in certain areas...

[Giantevilhead]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence. Just like how there are too many similarities between Dragon Age and Warhammer for that to be a coincidence.

[Calax]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence.

Deep

 

 

Space

 

 

9

 

 

sucka

[Nepenthe]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence. Just like how there are too many similarities between Dragon Age and Warhammer for that to be a coincidence.

And yet, I seem to have missed them all.

 

(which isn't to say that most things in DA have been lifted from somewhere else - but WH? WTH?)

Edited May 1, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Gorth]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence. Just like how there are too many similarities between Dragon Age and Warhammer for that to be a coincidence.

And yet, I seem to have missed them all.

 

(which isn't to say that most things in DA have been lifted from somewhere else - but WH? WTH?)

Aspects of it (the warp fade and the Templars of Sigmar seeking out unsanctioned mages, practicing outside the Colleges of Magic Circles) because the untrained mind may attract the attention of warp fade entities, but my first thought when watching the cutscenes was Peter Jackson

 

As you said, a mix of some old, some borrowed and some new bits here and there.

[Oner]

Aspects of it (the warp fade and the Templars of Sigmar seeking out unsanctioned mages, practicing outside the Colleges of Magic Circles) because the untrained mind may attract the attention of warp fade entities, but my first thought when watching the cutscenes was Peter Jackson

I saw a comparison once between DA:O cutscenes and LotR scenes, there were 1:1 matching scenes IIRC.

[Giantevilhead]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence.

Deep

 

 

Space

 

 

9

 

 

sucka

 

While Mass Effect certainly took a lot of ideas from Star Trek, its universe has much more in common with Babylon 5.

 

In both ME and B5

1. Both series begin after a war resulting from first contact with an alien race.

2. Humans are a relatively new race in the galactic scene and yet they've acquired a lot of power and influence in that short amount of time.

3. They both have sort of a security council with the most powerful races in the galaxy. Unlike the Federation in Star Trek, it's not really an alliance and the different factions often work against each other.

4. The relationship between different races is much more tenuous. Different races may pretend to be allies but secretly work against each other.

5. Lots of powerful corporations around. The way the corporations in ME operate is similar to the way they operate in B5. Although in B5, the most powerful corporations pretty much run the earth government.

6. There is quite a bit of xenophobia present among humans. There are organizations dedicated to preserving human interests.

7. Ancient races meddling with the evolution of various species in the galaxy.

8. Primitive races are artificially uplifted/modified to fight wars for more advanced races.

9. Malevolent ancient race that bring cycles of destruction to the galaxy and they claim to be doing it for the good of everyone in the galaxy.

10. The malevolent ancient race possess a degree of control over the younger races and use agents among the younger races to sow destruction and chaos.

11. The malevolent ancient race harvest younger races for their ships.

12. Both series focus on the protagonist's struggle to unite various races to fight the ancient threat.

 

Granted, many of these are pretty common sci-fi tropes but for both series to have this many in common has to be more than a coincidence.

[Gorgon]

That's pretty standard for a series about contact with various alien races. There would be imperialism, a VOC company, a senate and a council, xenophobia and racism, sattelite wars. culture wars, technology exchange, psionics.

 

How could you NOT have all those things.

 

You could do without the reapers since it's just a very tired shtick.

[Calax]

I was just pointing out DS9 because JMS went to paramount to make Babylon 5 in the first place, but got turned down, and DS9 is very superficially similar to the concept (right down to being based on a station)

[Gorgon]

Nobody watched Babylon 5. Get over it already.

 

There's too many similarities between Mass Effect and Babylon 5 for it to be a coincidence. Just like how there are too many similarities between Dragon Age and Warhammer for that to be a coincidence.

And yet, I seem to have missed them all.

 

(which isn't to say that most things in DA have been lifted from somewhere else - but WH? WTH?)

Aspects of it (the warp fade and the Templars of Sigmar seeking out unsanctioned mages, practicing outside the Colleges of Magic Circles) because the untrained mind may attract the attention of warp fade entities, but my first thought when watching the cutscenes was Peter Jackson

 

As you said, a mix of some old, some borrowed and some new bits here and there.

Warhammer is pretty clearly tracable to Michael Moorc.o.ck.anyway. Chaos lords, the 8 arrow logo, corruption. Everybody steals from everybody esle. Edited May 1, 2012 by Gorgon

[entrerix]

warhammer is like every fantasy trope ever, turned up to 11, and then set on fire and pushed off a cliff while playing power metal

[GhostofAnakin]

Did Babylon 5 introduce a Radiant Youth/Starchild/Godchild out of the blue, too?

[Tale]

Not unless it was Season 5. I haven't seen that one.