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Mass Effect |OT| Alien love in an elevator

Stallion Free said:
4x msaa should be matched with 4x sparse-grid (2x msaa with 2x sparse) and you really should up the LOD bias to 1.5ish at 4x.

I'll try that, thanks, now it's 4xmsaa with 4x sparse-grid, I'll try modifying the lod bias.

EDIT: at 1.5 a few jaggies are back, I think I prefer the softer look.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Is it worth it to play this game a 2nd time just to be more of a renegade? My 1st run is mostly being a nice badass paragon specter, but i'm wondering if doing another run where i'll be a badass renegade specter jerk is worth doing.

I can't stop playing this game, damn its that good. I should have started playing it years ago.

Is Mass Effect 2 just as good? Or even better?

I've been reading the first pages, and a lot of people are complaining about the graphics and framerate of the 360 version of the game. The PC version doesn't seem to be that bad. Maybe it's just that my computer can easily handle such a game.
 
Bisnic said:
Is it worth it to play this game a 2nd time just to be more of a renegade? My 1st run is mostly being a nice badass paragon specter, but i'm wondering if doing another run where i'll be a badass renegade specter jerk is worth doing.

I can't stop playing this game, damn its that good. I should have started playing it years ago.

Is Mass Effect 2 just as good? Or even better?
I love doing both Paragon and Renegade runs.

ME2 is extremely polarizing for ME fans. I don't like it as much as ME1, but it was still rather enjoyable.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Another thing, i saw that there is a way to do a new game + where you can do another run with the talents from your previous one. Do you keep your character looks? Can you choose to go with the renegade "path" with a new game + if you went more paragon before? Or do you have to do a whole new game?

Also, is the Earth's moon the only thing you can land on the Sol system? If so, that kinda sucks.
 
Bisnic said:
Another thing, i saw that there is a way to do a new game + where you can do another run with the talents from your previous one. Do you keep your character looks? Can you choose to go with the renegade "path" with a new game + if you went more paragon before? Or do you have to do a whole new game?

Also, is the Earth's moon the only thing you can land on the Sol system? If so, that kinda sucks.

Yes your character looks the same. You keep your Renegade/Paragon from the previous playthrough. You don't have to make the same choices as you did the first game. Your talents stay the same, you can't respec. Yes the moon is the only area in the sol system.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Lostconfused said:
Yes your character looks the same. You keep your Renegade/Paragon from the previous playthrough. You don't have to make the same choices as you did the first game. Your talents stay the same, you can't respec. Yes the moon is the only area in the sol system.

Aw, i want to play something else than infiltrator on my 2nd run. :( Guess i'll just do a real new game for that, screw the powerful talents early in the game.
 

Duffyside

Banned
Reposting question. This is important to me:

Do I NEED to choose one path, Renegade or Paragon? I would like to just choose whatever comments seem to make the most sense for me, and have that silly meter just lie somewhere in the middle. What are the benefits of getting your Shep to full one side or the other? Is it ok if I'm somewhere in the middle?
 

Acheron

Banned
duffyside said:
Reposting question. This is important to me:

Do I NEED to choose one path, Renegade or Paragon? I would like to just choose whatever comments seem to make the most sense for me, and have that silly meter just lie somewhere in the middle. What are the benefits of getting your Shep to full one side or the other? Is it ok if I'm somewhere in the middle?

Being far one way or the other will give you superior dialogue choices that allow you to save certain crewmembers, gain discounts or avoid fights.

That said trying to "win" the game this way fundamentally avoids the point of the series. You take the path you want and there are some unintended consequences that by the end of the series hopefully all come together in a meaningful way. Going with a certain route because it nets you higher credits or keeps your team bodycount down is silly.
 

Gvaz

Banned
Acheron said:
Being far one way or the other will give you superior dialogue choices that allow you to save certain crewmembers, gain discounts or avoid fights.

That said trying to "win" the game this way fundamentally avoids the point of the series. You take the path you want and there are some unintended consequences that by the end of the series hopefully all come together in a meaningful way. Going with a certain route because it nets you higher credits or keeps your team bodycount down is silly.
But that's the point though? Just pick a side, you hurt yourself by going grey.
 

masterkajo

Member
Gvaz said:
But that's the point though? Just pick a side, you hurt yourself by going grey.
I played it through being fairly in the neutral ground. Neither really paragon nor really renegade. I always did what I would have done in that particular situation. So sometimes I save people. Sometimes I kill them.... And I still managed to get everyone through alive. (The first and the second game!! - if that is what prevents you from being neutral) So it is possible! I suggest you play it like you would choose in that situation rather than sticking to one path just for gameplays sake! I really enjoyed it that way! Of course if you want to make a badass renegade Shepard (preferably female), I am not the one to argue here :)
 

Gvaz

Banned
But if you play neutral you're locked out of specific paths such as telling Wrex to stand down, or persuading Saren.
 
duffyside said:
Reposting question. This is important to me:

Do I NEED to choose one path, Renegade or Paragon? I would like to just choose whatever comments seem to make the most sense for me, and have that silly meter just lie somewhere in the middle. What are the benefits of getting your Shep to full one side or the other? Is it ok if I'm somewhere in the middle?

There's no "middle". The two meters are separate. It's quite possible to 100% one of the two before the end if you try and do everything.

You get a free point in Charm/Intimidate at several stages as the meter fills, and a special mission at 80%. Past 80% doesn't give you anything at all.

Gvaz said:
But if you play neutral you're locked out of specific paths such as telling Wrex to stand down, or persuading Saren.

Wrex's sidequest is the only thing you need to stop that problem.

With Saren, you're only avoiding the first half of the fight.
 

ampere

Member
Stallion Free said:
I was full paragon and I convinced him to shoot himself
Yeah that part is awesome :lol

I just replayed ME1 a few weeks ago and it had been years, I had completely forgotten some of the cool moments like this.
 
So I was thinking about replaying ME1 mainly because I don't like that ME2 decided that Liara was my male Shepard's love interest in the first game even though she wasn't (she came to my quarters but I told her to get lost). I just don't like the idea that ME3 is going to act as if I cheated on Liara when I was never with her to begin with.

If I want the game to register that I had no love interest in ME1 are there some specific choices I need to look out for, or should I just not talk to Liara or Ashley at all?
 
ElectricBanquet said:
So I was thinking about replaying ME1 mainly because I don't like that ME2 decided that Liara was my male Shepard's love interest in the first game even though she wasn't (she came to my quarters but I told her to get lost). I just don't like the idea that ME3 is going to act as if I cheated on Liara when I was never with her to begin with.

If I want the game to register that I had no love interest in ME1 are there some specific choices I need to look out for, or should I just not talk to Liara or Ashley at all?
Only way to be sure. Avoid the conversation entirely.
 
So my brother got this game for me for my b-day last week (actually almost 2 weeks ago now) and I just finished it. Kind of Meh. The voice actor for male Shepard is so wooden. I'm going through a second play through to try and get some more achievements (I can be OCD that way) and wonder about the ally ones. I've looked up on GameFaqs that you need to complete so many missions with them but I was wondering. Can you pick up the assignments, then pick up your member, then complete them to get the score or do you have to wait till you have the member you want to pick them up? I ask because I'm going to be using Liara in this run through (my first one was with Kaiden & Garrus) and I've heard she's the hardest to complete.
 

masterkajo

Member
Henchmen21 said:
So my brother got this game for me for my b-day last week (actually almost 2 weeks ago now) and I just finished it. Kind of Meh. The voice actor for male Shepard is so wooden. I'm going through a second play through to try and get some more achievements (I can be OCD that way) and wonder about the ally ones. I've looked up on GameFaqs that you need to complete so many missions with them but I was wondering. Can you pick up the assignments, then pick up your member, then complete them to get the score or do you have to wait till you have the member you want to pick them up? I ask because I'm going to be using Liara in this run through (my first one was with Kaiden & Garrus) and I've heard she's the hardest to complete.
The ally achievements can be a bit though. You have to complete a certain number of main and side quest with each one (different for different party members but only by a small margin). I just started the game and stuck with the two crew members for the entire game and sidequest (even starting them not just finishing) and it worked fine. The hardest one is probably the one for Liara because you get her so late. Just go get her right away (do nothing inbetween that isn't necesarry) and then come back to the citadel and do all the stuff with her in your party.
 
I boot the game and for some reason it look ugly as fuck. I can't remember how it looked when I first played it on launch and I'm biaised because of ME2, but shit son, shaders are ugly as fuck.

FemShep hair are just a non loaded texture. Geth skin shader is the same. Is there something wrong or did the PC port was that bad back then ?
 

Replicant

Member
ElectricBanquet said:
So I was thinking about replaying ME1 mainly because I don't like that ME2 decided that Liara was my male Shepard's love interest in the first game even though she wasn't (she came to my quarters but I told her to get lost). I just don't like the idea that ME3 is going to act as if I cheated on Liara when I was never with her to begin with.

If I want the game to register that I had no love interest in ME1 are there some specific choices I need to look out for, or should I just not talk to Liara or Ashley at all?
WTF? I didn't know that talking to her implies that I have interest in romancing her. I thought it was just two friends talking privately. I did suspect it when she over-dressed just for casual convo! Well, I don't give a fudge, I didn't mean for my Shepard to get on with her anyway. But now I'm wondering if I should replay that section and ignore her. FML
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
UnluckyKate said:
I boot the game and for some reason it look ugly as fuck. I can't remember how it looked when I first played it on launch and I'm biaised because of ME2, but shit son, shaders are ugly as fuck.

FemShep hair are just a non loaded texture. Geth skin shader is the same. Is there something wrong or did the PC port was that bad back then ?

Yeah the first time i booted the game, PC port that is, i also noticed how the hair textures was fucking ugly, but after deleting some cache file(look around post 10236), it got better even if still ugly. Does your looks like this?

http://i.imgur.com/v2gTN.jpg
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
So what's up with my teammates randomly deciding to not move at all? I saw this happening a bunch of times with Liara on my Paragon run, and now Tali is doing the same shit on my Renegade run! They just stand there and dont move, and the command Rally doesn't do anything. Is this some known bug or something? Because its really annoying when its just me and Wrex againt a big group while Tali is being a dumbass 5 rooms behind us.
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I forgot what to do. Something something delete shader something. BioWare are fucktards for still not fixing it after all this time. In a trilogy, no less, where people are more likely to go back to/purchase an old game.
 

Garou

Member
I forgot what to do. Something something delete shader something. BioWare are fucktards for still not fixing it after all this time. In a trilogy, no less, where people are more likely to go back to/purchase an old game.

Hmm, I will continue to play for a bit and hope I won't notice anything blatant like that again...but having something before even entering a door is quite lousy I have to say.
 
So i recently bought ME1 for the 360 for some Comfy Couch™ gaming, and im quite surprised, for all the shit the PC version (quite rightly) got for Garrus' low texture head, its still pretty shitty on the 360 compared to the other Turian head textures .....
 

Gazzawa

Member
Looking at that OP....I miss a proper Citadel. Without spoiling anything: is the Citadel in ME3 the ME1 or ME2 "version"?

the answer to this is the Citadel in ME3 is closer to the Normandy. Its laid out in floors you use elevators to get to. Much larger than ME2. Better use of space and better views than in ME1
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
Bumping to know if anyone know how to make the Bring Down the Sky DLC to work on PC with the Steam version? I downloaded it, installed it, used the code that an EA rep gave me, but i don't see anything on the Galaxy map.

Edit : Nevermind, after some research, i had to do some registry edits...talk about complicated.
 

gragy10

Member
Reading the OP I'm really pleased with how unintentionally blind i went in to this (started ME1 in January and did the whole trilogy in sequence).
Had zero idea of series lore so stuff like the Reapers existence and their being the reason for the Protheans disappearance was a genuine shock
 
Got the trilogy on PS+ sale a couple weeks ago for $12.99 and just completed ME1.

Great game. Kind of awesome to realize that there's two more games to this, especially since I'm sure I could play ME1 again to try the Renegade option.

I chose a female Shep. A slender, intellectual hero/colonist Vanguard who over the course of the game hit 100% Paragon with room to spare. This now feels like totally the right choice. (The voice actor is great, the interactions fit, Vanguard is perfect feels for this config.)

I then chose to do all of the planet-based side missions with Wrex / Tali...great interactions...and all of the main storyline with Liara / Tali (as soon as this was possible.)

Again, that felt like completely the right choice for me. I just drank in the details and enjoyed the ride like:

-when the gift from the consort comes into play on a remote planet
-discovering a
pyramid
for the first time
-the fact that so many of the aliens and NPCs are
total nerds
-the awesome pacing and feel of Feros
-the layered twists of the Noveria arc (really well done point A to B to C to...D?!)
-how things get real in Virmire
reptile tears, so good
-how Ilos puts mood into a classic moment of scifi exposition, and pulls it off so well
-and, from start to finish, the final battle
the final battle!
. It's really like playing out a scene from your favorite sci-fi movie except it's more elaborate, sustained and just...so...excellent for the most part. Incredible reuse of a familiar environment. Just awesome.
-finding the last Keeper
-BigTrak! On the moon!
-Liara + Tali + Vanguard Shep = more mayhem in battle than I felt I had any right to expect from an RPG. I could basically charge head long into a Krogan battlemaster relatively sure that he would end up levitating above me and fried to crisp between Liara and Tali
-finally hats off to the writers and voice actors. Excellent, excellent stuff.

Ash
is dead.
And
so is the council.

Onwards to ME2...when I manage to download all 12 gigs of it off PSN's molten lava slow download service.
 
Whoa, very surreal reading this thread again. Cool going back to the pre-EA era and reading people's first reactions to the game and speculation of the future.
 
Don't miss out on Lair of the Shadowbroker DLC if it isn't already included. It's plot essential and probably the best three hours of ME2.

Thanks! Looks like that comes bundled in with the PSN trilogy.

It's weird since I just started up ME2 and I couldn't tell if the DLC they list was in there...and then I realized...yep, it is. So, although I doubt I'll get to the Lair DLC straight off, I'm pretty sure it's in there based on what I'm seeing.

No cartoon, though, so far. I'm using a ME1 save to continue, so maybe they don't display it, but I'd still like to see the cartoon, eh!

And, yeah, after coming straight from ME1's ending (like less than a day...or, more accurately, the nine hours it took to download) it was pretty harsh to go straight into ME2's beginning. Like, whoa. Not what I expected.
 

Felspawn

Member
Any word on a HD Trilogy on the PS4/Xbone? Sure i have it on the PC already but you cant use a controller with it and its just a game series i prefer on the coach.
 
Bumping to know if anyone know how to make the Bring Down the Sky DLC to work on PC with the Steam version? I downloaded it, installed it, used the code that an EA rep gave me, but i don't see anything on the Galaxy map.

Edit : Nevermind, after some research, i had to do some registry edits...talk about complicated.

Any chance you can link me to some instructions? Shit basically crashed my game and I think I lost all my (old) save files.
 

pahamrick

Member
Any chance you can link me to some instructions? Shit basically crashed my game and I think I lost all my (old) save files.

I ended up registering the ME serial from Steam on Origin, and downloading it through Origin since ME1 on Origin includes both DLCs.

Also, speaking of I forgot 5.1 was busted on ME PC. No matter what I do I can't get 5.1 working either through HDMI on my video card (I use my TV for the time being) or using digital out on my sound card.

Guess I'll just play with my headphones.
 
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I'm considering finally playing through Mass Effect for the first time.

Is there anything important a new player should know, or any general tips? (Things I might miss, obscure mechanics, etc.)
 
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I'm considering finally playing through Mass Effect for the first time.

Is there anything important a new player should know, or any general tips? (Things I might miss, obscure mechanics, etc.)

Nothing really. Just jump in and experience the world as you see fit.

Just select RPG mode in the beginning of the game. In this mode you have more control over your character.
 

Nikodemos

Member
I'm restarting this game now that I've managed to reach the mid-late 00's part of my backlog.

What class should I pick? I'm a completist (I generally dislike replays, prefering to get everything in one go) and mainly interested in the story. Also, I'm going with FemShep.
 
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