Let's discuss Mass Effect.

[Mikeyfell]

Miranda Lawson-In contrast to her colleague Jacob, Miranda is a squad member who fits in almost every situation. Warp and Overload are good against almost any type of enemy, although I don't really see the point of Slam. Her Passive ability is nice too, giving your entire squad increased weapon damage or health. I tried not to use her too much, as I needed to give my other squad members some time too. 10/10

This information right here was the worst part of Mass Effect 2 (To me)
So Bioware goes out of their way to make the most unlikeable character until genetics go awry and they accidentally make a cross between Hitler and George W. Bush, and they make her the only team stable in the whole game

So I never used Miranda because of the disturbing level of unlikeableness but I still needed someone with overload and somebody with either warp or incinerate.

I pretty much stuck to Garrus and Mordin the whole time, with Jack as a standby because Shockwave was really good at knocking people off ledges. Jack is invaluable for the mission where you find Grunt.



In Mass Effect 1 on the other hand The squad members didn't matter in the slightest because the biotic and tech powers didn't work for shit so for my insanity playthrough I used Garrus because he could open locked containers and Wrex because he had the most health.

I did play ME1 enough to take every different squad member on every different mission (Fuckin' achievements) Tali and Kaiden were my favorites even though they were practically useless half the time.


The way Bioware squad mates work is I pick based on personality then compensate for their talents in gameplay. I always try to put my potential romances in the party just to see what little things they have to say during missions.

As far as Mass Effect 3 is concerned I have no expectations for the writing in that game. Just so long as they don't show Tali's face and the Reapers don't turn out to be Shepard's father I'll be okay with it.

 

[boag]

Well I played a couple of times as Soldier on both games, got several game ending choices up to Me2 doing full runs from ME1.

Then I decided to go Full Biotic on Me1 up to ME2, and just for kicks I pushed the game up to Veteran again because I was basically steamrolling everything with my soldier on both games.

Me1 was a piece of delicious cake while playing a Biotic, the troubles began in ME2, where every fucking enemy had some form of defense on and my biotics pretty much useless in the fight, then it got worse, because I was stuck using a gun and a shotgun, suffice it to say the game experience turned from a stroll to ENEMIES EVERYWHERE!

It was fun.

 

[The Funslinger]

I only played ME2 as I don't have a 360 or PC that can play ME1. I did watch a ME1 movie this guy put together on Youtube though. I had Ashley killed in the choice select comic for ME2 because at one point in the ME1 movie I watched, she said, "everything happens for a reason" and I hate when people say that.

That made me laugh. I now have this mental image of shepherd interviewing Ashley in an office of some kind.

"Everything happens for a reason."

"Thank you, that'll be all."

*Ashley leaves*

*Shepherd presses intercom* "Have Ms. Williams executed."

 

[The Funslinger]

No gay krogan sex?

I am dissapoint bioware.

I don't think they have the quads to put something like that in their game.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Mass Effect 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games.
Tali, Garrus, Thane, Wrex, and Legion are my favorites, but the depth given to all the characters makes them great, I enjoyed every loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2. Even Shepard interests me as a character despite his/her place as your almost-stand-in.

I'm not as focused on the gameplay, so I don't grade the characters based on their abilities and what-not. The transition from action-rpg to action-action-rpg was alittle odd, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

That said Mass Effect 3 worries me as it worries others.

 

[AnarchistFish]

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

I'm pretty sure asari and humans can't produce offspring just like how most of earth animals can't unless they have the same DNA.

I'm guessing you haven't played mass effect.

Either way, just because you have sex with someone, doesn't mean you'll AUTOMATICALLY HAVE CHILDREN 100% SURE.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

Ummm, I don't know about the rest of you but I used a condom.

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

No way man, I made sure to blow my load in her mouth.

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

I doubt it. We only did anal.

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

Sex with Liara? Gross you freak, she's an alien and like 200 years old. Ewww

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

Probably not considering I'm gay and wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole. Not even my 10 foot pole, boosh!

For instance, if you have kinky asari sex with Liara in the first game....shouldn't Liara have a daughter in the 2nd game?

Maybe but that's why I punch her in the stomach every time I see her. She thinks that's Earthspeak for "hello".

 

[TheScientificIssole]

ME 1- Garrus, Wrex. No Exeptions.
ME 2- Garrus, Grunt. I only used the others on loyalty missions.
All the alien characters are great though. Especially Legion, Thane, and Mordin.

 

[AD-Stu]

Wow - a lot of people are down on Jack in ME2

I think my biggest problem with her is simply that she's built up as the most powerful biotic wrecking machine in the universe but when she's in your squad (for obvious game balancing reasons, I guess) she's no more powerful than Miranda, Samara or any of your other biotics. I don't mind her so much, she's just not what she was built up to be.

That said, I did find her useful on some missions. Shockwave is boss on those pain in the arse floating-platform Collector levels, for example.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

My A-Team in ME2 is Shepard, Garrus, Thane and Mordin....I really want to do a video of the A-Team theme with those characters playing the roles!

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I only played ME2 as I don't have a 360 or PC that can play ME1. I did watch a ME1 movie this guy put together on Youtube though. I had Ashley killed in the choice select comic for ME2 because at one point in the ME1 movie I watched, she said, "everything happens for a reason" and I hate when people say that.

That made me laugh. I now have this mental image of shepherd interviewing Ashley in an office of some kind.

"Everything happens for a reason."

"Thank you, that'll be all."

*Ashley leaves*

*Shepherd presses intercom* "Have Ms. Williams executed."

Classic renegade Shepard, lol.

 

[an874]

What can I say other than that it is a great series. It's got an interesting universe to explore and generally well written stories. It's gameplay can be imperfect (bad interfaces and frame rate issues in the first, and potentially boring and repetitive combat in the second), but was generally enjoyable. I think some of it's potential will be hampered for the third due to the storyline dealing with a war and therefore probably making for a more linear experience (although that might not be an inherently bad thing if the story writers plan on having more forward momentum), and wasting resources on an unwelcome multiplayer (glaring at you EA), but it'll be enjoyable all the same.

 

[RJ 17]

Snip

Jacob: Agree with you 100%

Miranda: She's versatile, I'll admit, but as I tended to play a biotic more often than not in ME 2, she was a bit redundant.

Mordin: I agree.

Garrus: Leave him with the standard sniper rifle (I prefer more power/"bolt action" rather than the semi-automatic "upgrade" rifle). My only regret about him is that he can't use the super anti-tank sniper rifle.

Grunt: Whenever you need a tank, always go Krogan.

Jack: Just really didn't like her personality at all. And like with Miranda, since I normally played a biotic myself, I wouldn't need another one. For that matter, if I was playing a Shepard that wasn't a biotic, I'd mostly not bother with biotic powers at all.

Kasumi: Definitely a lot of fun to use, Shadow Strike is one of the most effective abilities in the entire game. The only thing I don't like about her is that if you pick her up, it becomes impossible to have EVERYONE survive (that is, even save all the crew members that were kidnapped by the Collectors). Despite inserting a new character and new mission, Bioware never updated the "mission counter"...that is the number of missions you can do before each major story event takes place. There should be just enough missions allowable to pick up Legion, do his loyalty mission, then your crew gets kidnapped so you go and rescue them. With Kasumi, though, your crew gets kidnapped immediately after getting the Reaper IFF and picking up Legion. As such, the only way to have EVERYONE survive is if you pick up Kasumi and don't activate Legion until the post-game. Or ignore Kasumi and don't pick her up until the post-game.

Zaaed: As I mentioned, I thought he was a good, all-around soldier. His fire-bomb is very useful and I actually found myself using him quite a bit.

Tali-Bali Al'hal Zuwali (yes, I know that's not her real name, that's what I call her though ): I don't see why you underestimate her. AoE AI Hacking is just obscene when fighting any kind of robot. Granted, with the exception of Tali's and Legion's loyalty missions, there aren't really many robot-heavy missions, but still: it kicks ass.

Samara: Again, I don't use biotics too often, and besides I disagree. I think her daughter's power is much more useful than Reave, which brings me too....

Morinth: What can I say? The only reason I use her is just so I can get Dominate as a bonus ability for future playthroughs. Dominate...AoE Dominate...Mind Control. Yes please.

Thane: I don't need no sissy religious assassins on my team.

Legion: While almost useless seeing as how you get him at the very end of the game...he CAN use the super anti-tank sniper rifle...which equates to insta-kills every time he shoots.

Now, back to the "why doesn't Liara have a baby" issue:

[Not really, just like you can have unprotected sex with someone and not have a baby. (though I strongly recommend against it. And yes its possibly to have a child. The Asarians are for lack of a better word an all A sexual race. They bond with aliens to produce offspring morphing their organs to make themselves compatible. At least thats what the codex say.

Uh... I don't remember the lore specifically, but I think the meld has to be intentional in order for the Asari to become pregnant. Which is awesome, as she never has to worry about birth control

The thing is, as you're building your romance with Liara, she makes a specific point to let you know that when an asari makes love "it's much more than just sex. Physical contact doesn't even need to be involved." It's something that shouldn't be taken lightly, it's the lifeblood of the asari race as it's how they advance and evolve. They don't adapt their own sexual organs to fix the needs of any race, the actual "insemination" is done entirely in the essence/mind/psyche/whatever. And seeing as how when/if you make love to her, she does the whole eyes-go-black deal like she does every other time she reads your mind, I'm pretty certain it's safe to assume she's going all the way with you...completely melding with your mind. Through this process, as she described, she mingles her essence with yours and poof! We just made a baby...

Now, for an entirely new topic of discussion, I'm currently playing through ME 1 again, the idea being to play through ME 1 again then ME 2 again and be ready in time for ME 3. Now granted, it has been YEARS since I last played ME 1...think my most recent save before my current one was dated 2008. But there seem to be conversations and dialogue that I don't remember...they're different than what I recall. It's the same topics, just different responses from Shepard and whoever he/she is talking to. Anyone else play ME 1 recently and notice this? It's like they went through and changed a number of conversations in a patch update or something...that or it's been so long that my memory of the game isn't as sharp as I thought it'd be.

 

[iLazy]

On the asari pregnancy thing it's either:

1) Since Liara is still in her "Maiden" stage it's possible she can't get pregnant yet, since most Asari start families in their "Matron" stage.

or

2) Asair use melding to pick desirable traits form their partner and pass those traits onto their offspring. They also use melding to transfer thoughts and feelings. It may be possible for asari to meld with partners/ have intercourse, and not get pregnant. Since their species is mono-gender, they would have no use for sperm and may in fact choose to impregnate themselves with DNA from their partners.

Those are my theories. Other then that... witch magic.

I used Jack a lot. Mostly for the Shock wave. I think I basically had her, and either Thane, Garrus, Grunt, Tali or Kasumi with me. Occasionally Samara too.

I'm biased though, as I love Jack <3 So much that I actually made a male Shepard so I could romance her (and cheat on Ashley for the sole propose of wanting to see what happens between those two in ME3 hehe! CAT FIGHT XD)

 

[DustyDrB]

snip

Oooh. Geth Shield Boost is a great power, actually. Improved Geth Shield Boost also boosts your weapon damage. It's a perfect power for a Vanguard. You charge in, do some damage, take some damage, and then use the Shield Boost to give yourself a bit more time to finish off enemies or to find cover.

Also, have you tried Morinth? Her special ability (Dominate) is the organic equivalent of AI Hacking, but it is very useful against Collectors (especially if you luck out and Harbinger "assumes control" of a Dominated enemy. Reave is still better in most situations, but Dominate is fun to use.

 

[AD-Stu]

Kasumi: Definitely a lot of fun to use, Shadow Strike is one of the most effective abilities in the entire game. The only thing I don't like about her is that if you pick her up, it becomes impossible to have EVERYONE survive (that is, even save all the crew members that were kidnapped by the Collectors). Despite inserting a new character and new mission, Bioware never updated the "mission counter"...that is the number of missions you can do before each major story event takes place. There should be just enough missions allowable to pick up Legion, do his loyalty mission, then your crew gets kidnapped so you go and rescue them. With Kasumi, though, your crew gets kidnapped immediately after getting the Reaper IFF and picking up Legion. As such, the only way to have EVERYONE survive is if you pick up Kasumi and don't activate Legion until the post-game. Or ignore Kasumi and don't pick her up until the post-game.

...

Now, for an entirely new topic of discussion, I'm currently playing through ME 1 again, the idea being to play through ME 1 again then ME 2 again and be ready in time for ME 3. Now granted, it has been YEARS since I last played ME 1...think my most recent save before my current one was dated 2008. But there seem to be conversations and dialogue that I don't remember...they're different than what I recall. It's the same topics, just different responses from Shepard and whoever he/she is talking to. Anyone else play ME 1 recently and notice this? It's like they went through and changed a number of conversations in a patch update or something...that or it's been so long that my memory of the game isn't as sharp as I thought it'd be.

I'm 99% sure that isn't actually the case re: Kasumi and having everyone survive the suicide mission. In fact I'm pretty much 100% sure, because I've had playthroughs where I've used her for the tunnel run and had everyone (including the crew) survive.

As for changed conversations, I'd be surprised if that was the case - for starters, I'm pretty sure the game hasn't been patched for years and when it was, I don't recall conversations being changed. They'd have to get the voice actors back in for starters. Chances are it's just your memory playing tricks on you after four years.

 

[DustyDrB]

The only thing I don't like about her is that if you pick her up, it becomes impossible to have EVERYONE survive (that is, even save all the crew members that were kidnapped by the Collectors). Despite inserting a new character and new mission, Bioware never updated the "mission counter"...that is the number of missions you can do before each major story event takes place. There should be just enough missions allowable to pick up Legion, do his loyalty mission, then your crew gets kidnapped so you go and rescue them. With Kasumi, though, your crew gets kidnapped immediately after getting the Reaper IFF and picking up Legion. As such, the only way to have EVERYONE survive is if you pick up Kasumi and don't activate Legion until the post-game. Or ignore Kasumi and don't pick her up until the post-game.

That's not true. I've saved everyone about seven times now with Kasumi on the team. The key is to take weak defenders with you at the end (Mordin, Tali, Jack are the weaklings. Kasumi is fourth I think. The game actually calculates some kind of underlying stat). The important people to leave behind to defend are Grunt, Garrus, and Zaeed. Leave at least two of them while not leaving behind too many of the weak characters and everyone will survive.

A more comprehensive guide to this [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Suicide_mission#Suicide_Mission].

 

[RJ 17]

Snip

Double Snip

Hmmmmm...see I've done that before, and every time I've got into the final mission with even 1 person not loyal, someone always ends up dying...and half the time it's someone that WAS loyal! But what I'm saying is that Kasumi's mission bumps out the chance to do Legion's mission, so no matter what you're going to have one person not loyal by the time you go to the Collector base.

Maybe it's "directed randomness" in that if you pick the right members to take with you for the final portion you can have a higher chance of having everyone survive even with someone being not loyal, but every time I've played through, every crew combination I've used, if someone isn't loyal then someone's gonna die.

As for the conversations that I mentioned, it's sooooooooooooooooo weird. I swear I'm hearing different lines being spoken. It's not like they re-did the entire script, but certain conversations seem to have a more natural flow and the responses seem less awkward (where applicable). For instance, on Feros, when you speak with the lady in the ship who's laying down with her husband watching over her, that conversation seemed to flow more smoothly. Same with the conversation with Lizbeth in the ExoGeni HQ, that conversation seemed slightly different. I'll keep paying attention once I hit up Noveria and see if I can't come back with a more specific example of some dialogue that seems to have been altered. Again I'm not saying it isn't a fuzzy memory on my part, it's been 4 years since I played the game, but I could swear that things sound different in a few of the conversations.

Edit: Added a response to another person to avoid double posting.

On the asari pregnancy thing it's either:

1) Since Liara is still in her "Maiden" stage it's possible she can't get pregnant yet, since most Asari start families in their "Matron" stage.

You know, I've gotta say that is the most reasonable answer that anyone has offered. It is indeed quite possible that Liara, only being 106 in ME 1, simply hasn't gone through "asari puberty" yet and thus isn't physically ready to start baring children.

As for cat fights, it doesn't get much better than Jack vs Miranda. I believe Joker said it best: "Take pictures!"