Mass Effect 2

[El Bastardo]

My main Shepard was a mix to Tali. I mean, not mean, per se - she is a previous member under her command, after all. So, first off, an implied threat if her people don't put their weapons away - but then, being that Veetor had already demonstrated he's nuts and has no info, she lets Tali go ahead and take him in exchange for the omni-tool data.

As Renegade as my main Shepard is, she's not stupid or overly cruel. I actually don't even kill the Batarians in the quarantine zone (the ones about to kill Daniel, Mordin's apprentice) because they stand down, and they're civilians. But you bet that she made Balak on Asteroid DLC in ME1 pay for his terrorism, oh yes.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

My Shepard is a paragade, or chaotic good for those in the know.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

My Shepard is a dick. Not to the extent that he's stupid and will do anything to endanger the mission, like randomly killing people who might have important information, but I think of him as basically a misanthrope. He wants to stop the Reapers because he genuinely believes in the ideals of the Alliance and the sense of guardianship he has as a soldier (and because they'll kill him and the few people he cares about along with everyone else), but he's more than willing to break a few some a whole lot of eggs to make that particular omelet. He has a philosophical approach to protection--everyone deserves a chance to live, but he doesn't really like what most of them do with that chance. He is still civilized, though. I didn't even have him punch that obnoxious reporter out on the Citadel. I just used Intimidate to embarrass her on her own show.

Hmm. Basically, I seem to think of my Shepard as Jack Bauer.

 

[SolarTiger]

Spoiler

Picked up this game finally, I imported my Paragon Shepard from the first game (saved the council, Kaidan died, Wrex didn't die, romanced Liara). I was a little pissed about not having unlimited ammo, I always ran out of ammo at the worst times (had to use the shotgun vs the human reaper ) but the combat was so much fun, and I really loved the indepth character development.

I managed to keep my whole team alive, but I think I screwed up at the end. I didn't destroy the collector base, I gave it over to the Illusive Man because I figured it would be useful against the fight vs the Reapers, but my whole crew seems to be doubting my decision...was that a renegade ending? Also, I turned down both Tali and Miranda and stayed loyal to Liara, but I invited Kelly to my room after the suicide mission, will that screw up my relationship with Liara in the next game?

 

[Soapy]

I don't think so.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Yeah, it doesn't count as a relationship.

Just hot, dirty, sex that will count as a "pass" by your one true love. Or something, something.

Ashley is extremely loyal to the Alliance, so her getting pissed off about Cerebrus made sense.

Kaiden's reaction...was just ****ing weird.

 

[BlackLantern]

Yeah, not a fan of Kaiden either. "I've taken enough of your time, Commander." F***in' right you have, now go die.

this is probably the best reaction to the encounter with Kaiden

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Even though I hated Kaiden in the first game, I did get a little warm and fuzzy feeling when I heard about the "Kaiden Alenko memorial fund" for biotic kids in a news report on Ilium.

Speaking of which, I just recruited Thane, I've got about 1/3rd of the loyalty missions done, and I have decided definitively to bone Miranda instead of Jack because I actually use Miranda as part of my squad and have found that she's incredibly useful in taking down shields. I probably won't need her as much once I do Tali's loyalty mission and pick up Energy Drain as an extra power, but I'm thinking I'll keep her around anyway. I like setting people up with Singularity or Pull and then having Miranda blow them up with Warp.

 

[El Bastardo]

I used Miranda pretty religiously through my Insanity run. That's about it, though.

 

[Erzengel]

I think my staple for my Insanity Run will be a mixture of Miranda, Garrus and Mordin.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't actually intend to have an Insanity run.

I've decided to buy the Kasumi DLC tonight. She seems like an awesome character. I might wind up with a Miranda/Kasumi team, in fact. Or maybe Kasumi/Thane for the Shredder Ammo.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Kasumi is a monster, she wrecks just about everything.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I figured as much when I looked her up on the Mass Effect Wiki and saw that one of her powers allows her to cloak, appear behind a dude, kick his ass, and then cloak and come back. SPACE NINJA!

Oh, I was wondering: How are you guys evolving powers? I've found I tend to err more on the side of high damage for Shep's power evolutions but wider area effects or squad bonuses for the other characters.

 

[Soapy]

Yeah, that's generally how I evolved them as well.

Also, the Kasmumi DLC is pretty cool. That's the last thing I played before I started Red Dead Redemption.

 

[El Bastardo]

I pretty much run heavy single-target damage for everything, Corp. Unless I'm planning a particular synergy with my Shepard, I suppose.

Then again, there isn't a lot of variety in my main team.

Soldier Shepard, Garrus, and Kasumi. Two Overloads, of which Kasumi's is weakest to make use of her loyalty power. Garrus's Concussive Shot is weak to make up for his Overload and loyalty power. And Shepard has Garrus's loyalty power as well.

Two-times Tungsten Ammo (+70% damage to Armor/Health) makes for a lot of dead enemies.

Most teammate passive talents, the ones that are their "class," I'll always evolve to whatever puts out more damage. With Shepard, I tend to go for utility in that regard. Shock Trooper > Commando. <3 Shock Trooper.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't actually like shooting enemies that often. I've found it's way more fun to combine biotic powers instead. Miranda has literally the perfect power set to complement my Shep in that regard: Overload can take down shields and Warp can detonate whatever fun biotic power I've applied to unshielded/barriered/armored enemies.

I've been thinking you might have the right idea regarding damage over spread, though. The more I think about it, the more sensible it seems to focus on killing one enemy outright rather than having a bunch of enemies still scurrying about with half their health. Not to mention between that and the squad members shooting people on their own, people often get whittled down to the point that a simple Pull or Singularity kills them rather than leaving them a bit of health to set up a Warp or Throw follow-up.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I figured as much when I looked her up on the Mass Effect Wiki and saw that one of her powers allows her to cloak, appear behind a dude, kick his ass, and then cloak and come back. SPACE NINJA!

Oh, I was wondering: How are you guys evolving powers? I've found I tend to err more on the side of high damage for Shep's power evolutions but wider area effects or squad bonuses for the other characters.

Depends.

Miranda for example I'll give the more powerful overload, while Garrus gets the area of effect one.

I take the more powerful incinerate and I let Mordin have the area variant.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I already went area Overload for both Garrus and Miranda and area Incinerate for Mordin. The retraining thing doesn't work for squad members, does it? It's only to reassign Shep's points?

 

[BlackLantern]

yes

 

[El Bastardo]

Which is why you should depend on more pew-pew!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Guns are so lame, though. Although I am enjoying my Geth Pulse Rifle. I had to play through Tali's recruitment mission on Hardcore to get it even though my comfort zone is Normal, but it was worth it.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Sniper rifle ftw my good man.

You have not experienced the art of death dealing until using the Widow Anti-Material rifle.

I would never play a Soldier class since its just the shooty-guy but I have to say my fav class is Infiltrator. Nice mix of guns and powers. Sentinel's close second.

 

[El Bastardo]

I hated Infiltrator. Depending on the sniper rifle was too tedious. I can use it just fine as a Soldier, and I actually do more damage with it.

Sentinel was fun, but I got bored with the character before the end of the game - but that's just me and my RP obsession. Made him a close-assault specialist, favored Warp Ammo over Warp itself, with Assault Armor. Armor goes boom, everything dies.

I'll eventually bring an Adept through ME1 and into ME2 as my second main character. He'll be getting an AR and Warp Ammo too, though. Singularity field + rapid-fire Warp Ammo doing double damage with every bullet? Should be fun!

Vanguard is actually the most un-fun class for me. While Biotic Charge is initially fun, doing nothing but Charge-Shot-Melee over and over again, sometimes multiple times to the same enemies, is more boring than just popping off shots from behind cover.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I hated Infiltrator. Depending on the sniper rifle was too tedious. I can use it just fine as a Soldier, and I actually do more damage with it.

You're not using it right then.

Headshot damage + Bullet time effect + correct ammo + Cloak damage increase + damage from you Infiltrator skill increase = 1 headshot for a kill on Hardcore regardless of barriers or armor.

That and you can play without the SR. You've got your Submachine gun + pistol and you're incinerate and cloak cover most situations.

 

[El Bastardo]

Yes, and the Soldier's Adrenaline Rush does a flat +100% bonus damage, on top of the passive skill increase, plus ammo, plus headshot damage, plus possible visor bonus damage, plus all the rest too. I think it's more damage overall, even considering Assassin Cloak, but I could be wrong by a few percentile points.

Adrenaline Rush does slow time down more, though, and for longer.

I do intend to make a close-quarters Infiltrator one of these days, though. Cloak + Shotgun, whee!