[Mass Effect]: Victory & Commendation Packs out! Mark ALL spoilers or BANSHEES!!

override367

I'm probably wrong about them consuming eezo then?

Spoiler:

still the codex is pretty clear about the difficulties of long distance intra-galactic travel.

Warships aren't long range expedition ships. It would have beautiful if the ending say, showed the quarians helping shepard the other races back to their space, the rejects of the galaxy being their salvation by having mostly self sustaining ships and refinery ships that can gather more fuel on the go without an infrastructure.

Something like that, I mean we can speculate that's what happened, but that's all we're fucking doing. Might as well end every movie 10 minutes before the ending and make your own up

Ninja Snarl P

Yeah, I was under the impression that eezo wasn't strictly a fuel. It gets used to build engines, then they can manipulate the eezo to generate power.

I remember from way back in ME1 that one of the big complaints about the Normandy was that the huge amount of eezo used in its construction, which allowed the Normandy to have stealth functions by acting as a power sink, would have built a slew of small engines or an engine for a big-ass ship. I've never heard of eezo actually being consumed, just ships needing to land and use planets as power sinks from traveling.

Orca

Professor Phobos wrote: »

On this thing we are discussing about the (sigh) ending...

Spoiler:

The relay destruction is problematic for people only because it's required by every ending, and I think many of us expected and desired a wide range of endings. It feels like this major setting change (and it's only a change, not apocalypse, as people have pointed out) is imposed on the player rather than emerging from a specific set of choices.

Spoiler:

The impression I get is that for a lot of people (not all, but a lot) the destruction of the relays means both an Endor Holocaust (because Arrival! And codex! Nevermind they look completely different, the codex is in-universe and fallible, and it's a completely different mechanic), and the effective destruction of the Mass Effect universe.

So, rather than looking at the destruction of the relays as both inevitable and pointed at since ME1, they look at is as killing off the entire interesting setting they've dumped hundreds of hours into.

These impressions may or may not be accurate, but that's the way it looks to me.

And that's beside the poor quality of the endings.

Although maybe if it'd been handled better they wouldn't have complained so loudly? I dunno.

lu tze

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

Spoiler:

And yeah, I did look some of the Mass Effect FTL stuff. Looks like they can travel at least 200 times lightspeed. Taking that as a metric, it would take at least a week non-stop to travel to Alpha Centauri and that's just the closest star to Earth. It could easily take months to reach any sort of habitable world or, much more importantly, any place that was capable of supporting the fleet.

Spoiler:

"With a mass effect drive, roughly a dozen light-years can be traversed in the course of a day's cruise."

From the same page dude, http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/FTL

They could do Alpha Centauri quicker than we can do London to New York.

Basil

interrobang wrote: »

anyone else having weird problems buying stuff from the store

keep getting errors about my purchases failing to process

That happens now and then. The hamsters are being fed, I imagine.

Ninja Snarl P

Ah, I stand corrected on that point. Missed that when reading.

Spoiler:

Still think it was completely unnecessary and unrelated to require the mass relays be destroyed.

Wyborn

A duck! wrote: »

The N7 Shotgun is like the third or fourth best shotgun. The Pulse Shotgun is probably the best, especially with higher-end mods.

I just, I still like the Eviscerator so much. The GPS is so heavy

lu tze

Spoiler:

It's also worth noting that ships currently are designed with endurance that takes the relay network in mind.

Without the relays, ships would have to be designed for longer cruises. Doesn't mean it's impossible, it just means that they need to go back to the drawing board.

It's like complaining that you can't cross the Atlantic in a dinghy... of course you bloody can't.

chiasaur11

lu tze wrote: »

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

Spoiler:

And yeah, I did look some of the Mass Effect FTL stuff. Looks like they can travel at least 200 times lightspeed. Taking that as a metric, it would take at least a week non-stop to travel to Alpha Centauri and that's just the closest star to Earth. It could easily take months to reach any sort of habitable world or, much more importantly, any place that was capable of supporting the fleet.

Spoiler:

"With a mass effect drive, roughly a dozen light-years can be traversed in the course of a day's cruise."

From the same page dude, http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/FTL

They could do Alpha Centauri quicker than we can do London to New York.

Spoiler:

Punching in the length of the milky way, Earth to Rannoch, assuming no breaks (not likely, but the math is easier) only takes about 27 years.

Ending is awful, no mistake. But it's not THE END OF LIFE IN THE GALAXY AS WE KNOW IT. Unless you chose Synthesis. Like a chump.

Spoiler:

I accidentally chose synthesis. It was late. I was tired.

wilting

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up. It doesn't huskify anyone, it is nothing like what the Reapers do or Saren advocated. 'Space Magic' isn't a valid criticism either seeing as half of us are playing characters using space magic on a regular basis.

Inter_d

Never promoting again, already miss my level 20 Drell adept and Turian soldier.

They were kings, they didn't need promoting.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

well, if it releases energy when a current is run through it, we might reasonably surmise that it must decay in some way

but they've already broken the rest of the laws of physics so I guess it's no huge thing

starlime

How is the Disciple shotgun? I keep getting upgrades for it.

Also, Krogan Soldier, Turian Sentinel or Salarian Infiltrator?

Professor Phobos

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

well, if it releases energy when a current is run through it, we might reasonably surmise that it must decay in some way

but they've already broken the rest of the laws of physics so I guess it's no huge thing

They probably wear out over time. But eezo is the Unobtanium magic that the setting runs on.

Lilnoobs

wilting wrote: »

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up.

Spoiler:

Same. It's the only one that breaks the cycle and makes an actual difference. The other two just have the galaxy keep on keepin' on.

chiasaur11

wilting wrote: »

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up. I doesn't huskify anyone, it is nothing like what the Reapers do or Saren advocated.

Spoiler:

It makes no sense, and is heavily tied to the dumb catalyst thing.

Destroy and control are heavily forshadowed and deal with the central problem of the narrative. Synthesis is starchild just making shit up.

And the Disciple is pretty cool. Light and effective. Lot of people prefer it to the eviscerator.

Savages.

interrobang

ps3 servers are being super wonky

purchases won't go through, my characters' level-ups won't save...

Wyborn

starlime wrote: »

How is the Disciple shotgun? I keep getting upgrades for it.

Also, Krogan Soldier, Turian Sentinel or Salarian Infiltrator?

It's like the Katana, but half as heavy and twice as accurate. A very good, very solid shotgun. Excellent for Vanguards because it won't weigh you down. Roughly as good as the Scimitar if you're a Charge machine.

Theros

lu tze wrote: »

Spoiler:

It's also worth noting that ships currently are designed with endurance that takes the relay network in mind.

Without the relays, ships would have to be designed for longer cruises. Doesn't mean it's impossible, it just means that they need to go back to the drawing board.

It's like complaining that you can't cross the Atlantic in a dinghy... of course you bloody can't.

Spoiler:

This. The Normandy sure as hell wouldn't get very far (given that the Normandy's thrusters use antiprotons and hydrogen, and antimatter fuel is vastly expensive), but tramp freighters and any existing equivalents to ocean liners will get along just fine, even with having to discharge the drive core every few days. If they can do 10-12 LY a day, they will have opportunities to find something to discharge the core into.

Professor Phobos

Synthesis...

Spoiler:

To buy into that ending, you have to accept the Catalyst's premise that there is a cyclical galactic cycle of synthetic-organic genocidal war. And fuck that.

Spoit

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

Lilnoobs

chiasaur11 wrote: »

wilting wrote: »

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up. I doesn't huskify anyone, it is nothing like what the Reapers do or Saren advocated.

Spoiler:

It makes no sense, and is heavily tied to the dumb catalyst thing.

Destroy and control are heavily forshadowed and deal with the central problem of the narrative. Synthesis is starchild just making shit up.

And the Disciple is pretty cool. Light and effective. Lot of people prefer it to the eviscerator.

Savages.

Spoiler:

Really? You don't think synthesis was foreshadowed at all? What about the multiple references of Shep being part machine already? What about the whole damn character of EDI? What about entering into the Geth consciousness?

Egos

Spoit wrote: »

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

I've been able to pull it off with randoms, Spoit. I would really recommend doing Firebase White or somewhere remotely open. Avoid Firebase Glacier- place is a fucking deathtrap.

Wyborn

Egos wrote: »

Spoit wrote: »

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

I've been able to pull it off with randoms, Spoit. I would really recommend doing Firebase White or somewhere remotely open. Avoid Firebase Glacier- place is a fucking deathtrap.

Which one is Firebase Glacier?

interrobang

Wyborn wrote: »

Egos wrote: »

Spoit wrote: »

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

I've been able to pull it off with randoms, Spoit. I would really recommend doing Firebase White or somewhere remotely open. Avoid Firebase Glacier- place is a fucking deathtrap.

Which one is Firebase Glacier?

the indoor circular-ish map with the open air landing pad

chiasaur11

Lilnoobs wrote: »

chiasaur11 wrote: »

wilting wrote: »

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up. I doesn't huskify anyone, it is nothing like what the Reapers do or Saren advocated.

Spoiler:

It makes no sense, and is heavily tied to the dumb catalyst thing.

Destroy and control are heavily forshadowed and deal with the central problem of the narrative. Synthesis is starchild just making shit up.

And the Disciple is pretty cool. Light and effective. Lot of people prefer it to the eviscerator.

Savages.

Spoiler:

Really? You don't think synthesis was foreshadowed at all? What about the multiple references of Shep being part machine already? What about the whole damn character of EDI? What about entering into the Geth consciousness?

Spoiler:

Pretty valid counterevidence, if anything. Synthesis is based on "Organics and robots hate the shit out of each other. Magic space dust is the only solution."

Those moments were "You know what doesn't really matter? The gulf between organic and machine. Greg is totally right, and Chakwas is wrong. Man, those quarians were jerks."

Mild Confusion

RE Fuel:

Spoiler:

The ships themselves can make it to Rannoch or anywhere else eventually, but they still require the H3 or antiprotons to burn as fuel. With the galaxy's fuel infrastructure destroyed, any long journey would have to wait until refineries are rebuilt. Do they have the food to last that long? Specifically for the Turians and Quarians? What about breath gas for the Volus? Even if they get the refineries up in the Sol system, how can they possibly have the cargo capacity to haul enough fuel with them to go home? 27 years worth of fuel is a lot of fucking fuel. Since they can't haul that much fuel, will there be any fuel spots along the way? Doubtful, very few refuel stations survived Reaper attacks.

Even then, they cannot do a straight shot home, they have to plan around drive core discharge. Is there a charted planet inbetween interstellar space that will allow them to dischage before they build up such a static charge that fries everyone inside the ships?

Egos

interrobang wrote: »

Wyborn wrote: »

Egos wrote: »

Spoit wrote: »

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

I've been able to pull it off with randoms, Spoit. I would really recommend doing Firebase White or somewhere remotely open. Avoid Firebase Glacier- place is a fucking deathtrap.

Which one is Firebase Glacier?

the indoor circular-ish map with the open air landing pad

yep. I found with Glacier it's very easy to get cluster fucked. Too many obstacles get in your way and it's very easy to get ambushed in later waves.

Wyborn

What, really? I freaking love that place. That was my first successful Silver extraction against the Reapers. Tight quarters were made for Biotic Explosions and Nova, and as long as you're not in the LZ there are a few choke points that are easily defensible so long as you keep your head.

Beezel

As a Manguard, which shotgun do I want to be vetting the most? Currently I'm kind of bouncing between the Scimitar and the Eviscerator. The ones that I have past that are waaaay too heavy for what I do at the point in the game I am at. Are there any lighter alternatives to those two going forward?

Wyborn

Beezel wrote: »

As a Manguard, which shotgun do I want to be vetting the most? Currently I'm kind of bouncing between the Scimitar and the Eviscerator. The ones that I have past that are waaaay too heavy for what I do at the point in the game I am at. Are there any lighter alternatives to those two going forward?

Until you get the CLaymore to level X you're not going to get much use out of the bestest shotgun, so be prepared for that. GPS is much the same. The Disicple weighs less than the Katana but is exactly as strong, that one is great. For power-based Vanguards, the Scimitar, the Disciple, the Katana, and an upgraded Eviscerator are pretty much top tier.

Edit: Wait is this a multiplayer or a singleplayer question?

interrobang

Beezel wrote: »

As a Manguard, which shotgun do I want to be vetting the most? Currently I'm kind of bouncing between the Scimitar and the Eviscerator. The ones that I have past that are waaaay too heavy for what I do at the point in the game I am at. Are there any lighter alternatives to those two going forward?

disciple

Wyborn

I do appreciate that the game lets you increase your power recharge speed more and more in the single player game. By the end of my initial runthrough I had a Claymore V and a +118% power cooldown bonus.

That's good enough for me.

SoundsPlush

chiasaur11 wrote: »

Spoiler:

Punching in the length of the milky way, Earth to Rannoch, assuming no breaks (not likely, but the math is easier) only takes about 27 years.

Ending is awful, no mistake. But it's not THE END OF LIFE IN THE GALAXY AS WE KNOW IT. Unless you chose Synthesis. Like a chump.

Spoiler:

I accidentally chose synthesis. It was late. I was tired.

Spoiler:

Yeah, I chose Synthesis the first time partly in bewilderment at the whole set up but mostly because of a reflexive affinity for Helios. Regretted it immediately after watching the plant circuitry and reloaded with Destroy.

Anyway, my problems with it stem back to starchild, which affects all the endings, but that one most of all because it doesn't do anything directly with the reapers (are they just another species hanging around now? at least with Control I can assume Shepard's ideals will guide them to protect people and prevent synthetic wars by, y'know...beating up the murderous synthetics instead of just killing everyone) and -- aside from the sorcery used to rewrite every body in the galaxy (does it give mainframe AI programs DNA or only ones existing in a body? if EDI was still housed in the Normandy would the Normandy have DNA? how does this even work?) -- it's like those Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit jokes, except worse because two steps are question marks. Here it's

Step 1: Believe starchild's premise that synthetics will always kill organics eventually, despite the only major examples Shepard knows of being directly contrary in so many ways (geth being instigated to attack by Sovereign; protheans winning the war on synths until the reapers showed up; reapers making geth fight back despite initially wanting to avoid war because the aggressive quarians killed enough of them to lower their intelligence and make them panic; EDI condemning the reapers for selfish self-preservation and patterning herself on organic self-sacrifice for others) and not really having any reason to believe this thing in the first place

Step 2: magic wave everyone in the galaxy so they have some circuitry/DNA they didn't have before but presumably keep their free-will and personality and self-determinism intact because otherwise that's monstrous

Step 3: crisis is solved! Everyone lives happily ever after exactly as before except without that supposed problem ever occurring because giving them circuitry/DNA means circuitry no longer wants to kill them forever.

Accepting that synthesizing everyone will prevent the problem is based on accepting the extremely vague, unexplored problem a reaper brain offers you and which contrasts with all your experience. Plus it's forcing a change on every single being in the galaxy but if we assume the caveat in Step 2 it's not as huge (still big).

Egos

Wyborn wrote: »

What, really? I freaking love that place. That was my first successful Silver extraction against the Reapers. Tight quarters were made for Biotic Explosions and Nova, and as long as you're not in the LZ there are a few choke points that are easily defensible so long as you keep your head.

Maybe I'm just not getting with good group/team builds. A lot of times the ramp area/lz are ends up as a quasi fortification point and at later points we have ravagers/banshees/brutes coming from all sides and there is nowhere to go.

But I'm playing with randoms also.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Lilnoobs wrote: »

chiasaur11 wrote: »

wilting wrote: »

Spoiler:

I consider synthesis to be the best ending. I don't understand why people don't like it, it is Shepard sacrificing to break the cycle, the best chance for peace, consistent with Mordin and Legion's sacrifices and the results thereof. 'Indoctrination' isn't a valid reason seeing as that is just something people made up. I doesn't huskify anyone, it is nothing like what the Reapers do or Saren advocated.

Spoiler:

It makes no sense, and is heavily tied to the dumb catalyst thing.

Destroy and control are heavily forshadowed and deal with the central problem of the narrative. Synthesis is starchild just making shit up.

And the Disciple is pretty cool. Light and effective. Lot of people prefer it to the eviscerator.

Savages.

Spoiler:

Really? You don't think synthesis was foreshadowed at all? What about the multiple references of Shep being part machine already? What about the whole damn character of EDI? What about entering into the Geth consciousness?

sort of

Spoiler:

the series kind of plays at some transhumanist themes, but most of the time when they're brought up we see the player and other characters explicitly rejecting them. Pretty much every 'merged' character in the series is either an outright antagonist or of questionable morality.

Mild Confusion

Aegeri wrote: »

This seems to be doing the rounds, but I thought it was an excellent summary:

Spoiler:

Though I discovered that it has been tweeted to the @masseffect twitter guys about a billion times already, but I regret nothing sending it to them again.

In other news, when is the N7 weapon for surviving silver being unlocked? And will it be forever stuck at level I because you can't upgrade it from packs (which is something I am wondering about).

I actually liked that.

SoundsPlush

The worst part on glacier for me is the computer hack at the bottom of the stairs in late waves. Ravagers sitting up top and banshees and brutes coming down to disrupt your meager console cover, marauders and cannibals on the other side with gunfire and grenades...that place is never pretty.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Wyborn wrote: »

Egos wrote: »

Spoit wrote: »

I'm never going to get this silver reaper thing with these pubs running to every corner of the map . Is there a chatroom or something people use to organize MP games?

I've been able to pull it off with randoms, Spoit. I would really recommend doing Firebase White or somewhere remotely open. Avoid Firebase Glacier- place is a fucking deathtrap.

Which one is Firebase Glacier?

it's the cerberus-y map with the snowy background

I actually think it's one of the easier maps on silver; the little area platform near the shuttle that the ladder leads up to is a nice chokepoint on most waves with 1-2 corridors that all the enemies in a wave have to funnel into

the only level I really don't like is that chemical plant one, but it might just be that I'm not used to nagivating it

MadCaddy

Gonna finally sit down and try to put the single player to bed tonight.. I did a base vanguard this run on normal, and have actually managed to die a few times (which is probably a good thing, and definitely not the experience I had similarily in ME2, but that could've also been due to my switch of platform.)

I swapped from xbox to PC, since I heard it had multiplayer, and I just never use my xbox anymore.. Add me to the origin list in the OP if possible... After tonight, (hell probably tonight if I get some invites soon) I'll always be looking for MP when I'm logged into origin.

Also, another thing, who else here picked up the ME: Infiltrator? I broke down and did it since my GF and i splurged on a new ipad, and it took me a while to get used to the controls, but I'm kinda digging it. I'm still trying to figure out how's best to use the intel...