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Post by Hodster on Feb 3, 2010 1:04:04 GMT 1
Note: Do not read if you have not finished the game.Well I read threw the 'non spoiler' thread and was going to post there but I don't feel like beading around the bush so this is the Spoiler thread. Now I will say I just beat the game. I took my time with it and did all the side quests I could and upgraded as much as I could, so I didn't rush it. The last mission was great I thought. My first playthrough with my personal Shepard and EVERYONE SURVIVED!!! Well really half my crew is dead including Kelly but all my squad members survived I personally enjoyed the final Boss and the ending showing all those reapers... man I can feel the war approaching. Now I want to know if you guys destroyed the station or captured it. I personally captured it but I'm still conflicted. By having the station we get insight on Reaper tech and we won't be fighting them completely blind as we can study is and perhaps even use it. But of course there is the Illusive Man and I don't trust him with it and I kinda cut our last conversation short but after our conversation he just looked at a projection of the base and has a evil glint in his eye. For those of you that destroyed it is it any different because I'm thinking if you destroyed it he might try to rebuild it? But I'm very happy with my personal Shepard playthrough.
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Post by Knightfall on Feb 3, 2010 2:05:51 GMT 1
I'm not too happy with my playthrough!
I figured out that Miranda died because of the fight that she had with Jack, and the fact that I didn't side with her. I really didn't think twice about it, since I had already done her loyalty quest. That totally sucked all the satisfaction out of the experience by the end. I HATE knowing that I made a mistake along the way. I still have yet to have a good personal experience with either ME 1 or 2.
STILL! I did love that game. I think the last minute destroy/save the Collector base thing was a bit silly. I saved the base the first time, since I really had no reason not to trust the Illusive Man yet. But, after the credits, I felt soooo bad that I did it. Everyone on the ship was like, "I know I haven't said much during this journey, but I don't think that was a good decision." Meeeeeh!
So, I replayed the final mission, trying to keep everyone alive (not possible in my case) and I destroyed the base. The difference is that the Illusive Man isn't too happy with you, but Shepard sticks to his morals. The crew is happy with you, and it seems like you will soon be hunted by Cerberus. Much more happy with that ending, but I hate these last minute all or nothing decisions. ><
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Feb 3, 2010 8:34:59 GMT 1
I kept it. The Illusive man spent a lot of money on Shepard, he's not going to just kill you off when you (and Joker) can pilot the Normandy SR3 Reaper Edition straight into the Citadel and say "Eat it massive Reaper horde!" I don't care what my crew thinks. I'm going to be a freaking god.
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Post by meshakhad on Feb 3, 2010 8:56:34 GMT 1
I destroyed the base.
Ironically, the one character I expected to die - Miranda (I took Jack's side in the catfight) survived. But I lost Thane, Mordin, and Samara.
Besides, I already came up with a plan to stop the Reaper armada. It's called Rachni Swarm Noms The Reapers.
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Post by Knightfall on Feb 3, 2010 18:32:20 GMT 1
I kept it. The Illusive man spent a lot of money on Shepard, he's not going to just kill you off when you (and Joker) can pilot the Normandy SR3 Reaper Edition straight into the Citadel and say "Eat it massive Reaper horde!" I don't care what my crew thinks. I'm going to be a freaking god. This is Commander Shepard, and renegadepoint's comment is the best post on this forum.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Feb 4, 2010 0:37:04 GMT 1
I blew up the base. It makes me wonder who Shepard will be working with in the 3rd game, because you could also tell the council and the alliance to get stuffed.
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Feb 4, 2010 7:39:49 GMT 1
I blew up the base. It makes me wonder who Shepard will be working with in the 3rd game, because you could also tell the council and the alliance to get stuffed. The Blue Suns. Most of the side missions in ME1 were chasing Cerberus. Then ME2 comes around and you're working for them. Most of the side missions in ME2 you blow up Blue Suns, who are smuggling Prothean technology. Ok its a weak theroy but it fits the evidence. And that argument only works because Mordin used it. Maybe you'll work for the Geth, after you get blown up again and become more machine then Shepard.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Feb 4, 2010 8:21:37 GMT 1
Well, I've managed to have everyone out alive in my first playthrough including the rest of the Normandy crew but I have to admit somewhere along the line in my first playthrough, it was kinda sheer luck.
In my second playthrough when I was tweaking the final options with my canon Shepard, I've noticed a few things and changes in comparasion between my first and 2nd playthrough:
- A certain trigger happened in my first playthrough that manage to have my Shepard to bypass the renegade and Paragon speech check during the catfight scene. Yes, there's a possibility that you can have the middle option appear so you don't need to use the speech check. Not sure how though. I think it involves bring Miranda and Jack along during Jack's loyalty quest. I'm not sure but there's a possibilty to bypass that. I'll try another time when I've get the chance.
- On my first playthrough, I've played straight with my import character that gave her a few boost in her morality meter while in my 2nd playthrough where I've imported the same character but modified in ME2 after my first run, I have a lot more difficulty in boosting up my paragon meter... then again in my 2nd playthrough, I've pulled a lot more renegade interrupts a lot more. That might have contributed to my struggle in trying to make everyone happy on the ship. The difficulty was kinda bad enough that in my last loyalty missions, I've respec to Baston on my character to get some bonus nagotation skills until up to the final mission since at that point there's not need to worry about speech check. (I'm more a nemesis adept who is... uh, a nemesis.)
- Playing the 2nd time in the game, I have a massive boost in raw minerals at the start of the game. Which is a nice touch.
- Even after I know how to survive most of the shit, I'm a little concerned during my final mission sequence in my 2nd playthrough, especially that fact... well. I've didn't upgrade Legion's sniper riffle due to lack of materials to buy it and it just ran out at the wrong moment when all my crew got dragged into the collector's white van. Also from what I have heard on the net so far, the results are quite unpredictable even if you win their loyalty and all.
Anyways, I'm pretty happy with my playthrough both the 1st and especially my 2nd playthrough. Since I've got everyone out alive, it's all fine and dandy but now I'm wondering what Shepard is going to to do in ME3? She blows up the base and flips the Illusive Man the middle finger before quitting. She's not part of the Alliance Millitary anymore and now Cerberus is after her blood along with the reapers and whatever enemies she stumbles into while flipping more fingers at them. Also counting the fact that after seeing the politics side with the counsel and the Alliance, I'm less inclined to rejoin into the Spectres and the Military.
So... she's going rogue now and laying low for a bit while plotting something againist the reapers? Or what? Jack did hint a Checkov's Gun trope when she mentions how the Normandy is such a powerhouse that Shepard can go rogue and live like a queen if she wanted to and even Shepard did mention in the end, humanity needs a leader and from the looks of it, she prefer to lead them by herself. Even General Septimus from ME1 mentions about her being a good General someday, is a Checkov's gun hint. So yeah... there's a possibility that she might start up a secret organisation, alliance or something. Yes, the prediction is off the charts but it doesn't hurt to make a wild guess from the look of the game.
Also like all typical bioWare games nowdays... there's the moral event horizon moments that effects the whole series. in ME1, we have choosing between Kaidan and Ashley, Balak and the captured miners fate in BdtS, the Rachni to some lesser extent. In ME2, there are more bitting issues and choices that even a idealist Paragon would stop to pause for a moment like blowing up the base or not. Even though I'm quite happy about getting rid of the damn base, it made me wondered what the consenqunces are since you've lost the chance to duplicate some of the technology that might put the organics and non-reaper factions into an advantage. However, the other side of the coin that technology might cause to turn aganist their interest, knowing the dangers of the reaper indoctination.
Ah BioWare, you're such a teaser. I'm going to play a different Shepard this time, going to keep the tech instead,= and maybe allying with Cerberus just to see what happens in ME3.
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Raidos
Serviceman 3rd Class
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Post by Raidos on Feb 5, 2010 2:08:31 GMT 1
My first playthrough didn't go so well on the last mission. I was lazy and didn't get ship upgrades, so I lost Jack, Thane, and Legion before the final mission really even started, and I lost Mordin a little later on.
I destroyed the station, since I was doing a paragon playthrough the first time. Illusive Man wasn't too happy. Oh well. Does anyone else think he knows more about the Reapers than he is letting on? I mean, he knew about the Collector-Reaper connection before the mission on Horizon, and he had a team of scientists studying the derelict Reaper (I know they all went insane, but surely they found some important information before the indoctrination affected them too severely. Unless it was rapid indoctrination anyways...)
I'm also with Tillian in wondering what Shepard is going to do in ME3. In my playthrough, Shepard was reinstated as a Spectre, so I guess that's about all the help he will get, since he turned his back on Cerberus. A few possibilities are the crew from ME1, though, since some of them are in fairly powerful positions. Liara is a (seemingly) powerful information broker with numerous sources at her disposal, Wrex leads a large clan of Krogans, Ashley/Kaiden are still in the Alliance Military and may be able to have them provide you with assistance, and Anderson is always willing to lend a hand. Really, when I think about it, Shepard has a lot of possible allies and resources for ME3.
As for the final boss, it was... interesting, although it seemed too easy in my opinion. Incomplete or not, it was still a Reaper and I must say I'm dissapointed in how simple it was to take down. I did, however, love the ending sequence. Although I must admit I'm not sure how Shepard got that datapad about Harbinger. Did EDI hack into the Collector station and download the information before it was blown up? Also... how the hell is Shepard going to be able to stop that many Reapers? It took the entire Citadel fleet to bring down just one!
So many possibilities, so many questions... ME3 is shaping up to be an incredible game.
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Post by TerrorK on Feb 6, 2010 6:40:31 GMT 1
I would have had the perfect playthrough first time if I had simply gone after the Collector ship straight away. Unfortunately I installed Zaeed late, and I was about to do his loyalty mission when my crew was taken, so I did it after that and then went after them. Because of this I lost Kelly, Gabby my chef and a few others. My main squad all survived and things went perfectly otherwise... all except for losing those crew members. Oh well... just another excuse to play through again for perfection I guess.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Feb 7, 2010 14:15:33 GMT 1
Doesn't hurt if you want if you want a replay. They reward you a 2nd playthrough with 50k minerals if you use a ME2 import. Also any excuse to play ME2 all over again is always a good excuse.
I've don't think I'll play a FemShep again for a while, for me. I've tried playing a differnt FemShep in ME2 but the VO reminds me of my favourite femshep too much. It certainly didn't helped the fact that it also reminded me about Horizon and how Kaidan turns his back on her, proving the fact that "love does not conquer all". I hate to say this but this the first time a game just made me emotionally shaken. I can stomach most of the bad moments like Aeris/Aerith's death, Virmire, etc. And moved on while keeping the old MST mantra "It's just a show, so I should sit back and relax." However ME2 is just too unbearable for me. Horizon is bad, saving Miranda's sister was touching and Tali's quest was really heartwrenching. The Cherry on top? In my playthrough, before Shepard ran through Omega 4 relay, she spend her "final" night alone in her quarters, looking at Kaidan's photo with a longing look.
Still I like to replay ME2 again but this time, I'm going to play as a Male Shepard. With hot pink power armour as a default while romancing Jack...
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Post by Hodster on Feb 7, 2010 20:57:40 GMT 1
Well I can't really blame Kaidan at all. I mean first of all Shepard was 'dead' for two years. Kaidan moved on, it looked quite clear that Shepard was dead and sure it hurted alot for Kaidan when she died but he had to move on sometime. Next when he finds out she is alive but also working with a terroist organization that is hard to take. If I loved someone and she 'died' but then turned up two years later and I found out she was working with terrorists I'd be pretty pissed.
Also I don't think it really proves the "love does not conquer all" because come on if you didn't romance anyone else you can probally continue the romance in ME3.
For my personal Shepard I got rejected by Kaidan too but that was more of get rejected by your best friend because I romanced Ashley in ME1 but saved Kaidan instead because it would make things more interesting and I wanted Carth in all three Mass Effects ;D
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Feb 8, 2010 7:11:53 GMT 1
Liara still likes me. And now shes got that fire in her eyes. The taste for blood, and love for the hunt. I hope she comes back in ME3 as a party member.
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Post by Knightfall on Feb 8, 2010 8:11:31 GMT 1
I've been playing through my ME1 Shepard recently. The going has been a lot more smooth, now that I've got the hang of everything.
I've also been giving the romance thing a lot of thought. I'll probably have both my male and fem Shepard move on in their relationships. I just can't imagine that any of the crew from the last Normandy would question Shepard's loyalties after what s/he has done, especially not his/her lover. It was just really hard for me to believe that.
Still, I romanced Liara in the first game, and I'm not sure what happens yet with her. Depending on how that encounter goes, my male Shepard is going to break it off and deal with it in a couple years in ME3. xD
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Post by Mister Buch on Feb 8, 2010 8:30:16 GMT 1
A lot to read here...
"Normandy SR3 Reaper edition" absolutely floored me with laughter.
So I juuuust this minute finished the game, and I would like to rant about my thoughts.
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It was magnificently written. This new lead writer needs to stay, and temper Karpyshyn's work as he seems to have done here. Every character (even the ones I had serious doubts about, like Jack and Samara) were excellent and believable. The details of every plot were intriguing. Every quest felt like you were really achieving something - an adventure in itself. The personal sidequests were all masterpieces.
The general design and graphics and attention to detail is fantastic. For instance the theme of 'death' and 'hell / purgatory' that keeps appearing after Shepard dies at the beginning. When I walked down the flame-surrounded entrance hall to 'Afterlife' on the planet 'Omega' I noticed, and was reaaaally impressed by the theme. And then 'Purgatory', 'Going into hell' lots of times, the real possibility of team-mate death, 'Archangel' maybe? TONS of references to death and afterlife. Excellent quality of writing.
COMPLAINTS!
The level-style missions were too much. I could cope with the lack of inventory, but I did not like being taken off-planet with a 'Mission Accomplished' screen. It felt too much like a shooter at times.
I also really didn't care for the mining. Which is basically essential if you want to not die at the end and be able to hold your own in combat. I preferred the Mako, if you can believe it. Every day this week, I would play music or comedy while I spent a half-hour or more mining planets, listening to headphones so I wouldn't fall asleep. A good RPG shouldn't make me do that.
I don't really like how crewmen can die at the end - one of mine died and I have no clue why. I got all the loyalty quests done. And his death wasn;t even mentioned. I just saw his body in the corner of the screen. No-one was sad, no-one said his name. The hell was the point of that? I didn't like the 'deaths' or the different endings.
There were only one or two of the 'Big Difficult Moral Choices' that, to my mind, were Mass Effect 1's greatest success. At the very end there was a no-brainer, at the flotilla there were a couple of small ones, and that was about it.
I think the actual main plot was weak, particularly the ending. This quality of the writing was so good... but what was happenning, not so much. Like Shakespeare talking about his day and what he had for breakfast.
Although the Prothean revelation was incredible, I never really gave a crap about the Collectors. Never met them, never got to have a conversation with this 'Harbinger' guy, whoever he was. The ending was..... meh. I liked it, and I was thrilled during the space battles, but meh. I know it's hard to make the second part of a trilogy good at the end... but still.
My big complaint is the romance and how your old romances carry-over. I really, really wish they'd just killed off Kaidan, Ashley and Liara and allowed me to fall in love with someone else. Because I was using an existing Shepard, I found it impossible to do any romance without knowing that Shepard was essentially cheating on her boyfriend. Not heroic. Finally I got to Horizon only to be.... not QUITE dumped. So yeah. Awkward. I had a photograph of the man in my bedroom. So no romance. Also - TOO MANY romance options, none of them very well-developed (from what I saw). Quantity over quality. And what the fuck has happenned to Liara?!?!
That is the big complaint. Romance and continuity. I hope you can romance Kaidan and Ash again in the third game, but it would be hard to pull off... so I'm not holding my breath.
------ Tillian speaks great wisdom with the MST3K line.
How Shepard eats and breathes and other science facts... the game was great fun. Wonderfully written. Beautifully (almost perfectly) acted... honestly, better acted than most films. Great gunplay. A magnificent achievement.
It demands endless replays, and it is, I think, one of the best games I ever played.
End. Thank you for reading!
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