Topic: The Presidium - A General Mass Effect Topic

I missed the “breathe” ending the first time I played ME3 as I lived in hospital accommodation where I couldn’t connect my PS3 to the WiFi and you pretty much HAD to play online mode a bit to get enough war assets (later DLC also let you get assets so you didn’t have to touch multiplayer).

@Thrillho Gosh yes, that whole multiplayer forced integration thing was a bullet I was very happy to dodge by being a latecomer. I'm sorry to hear it impacted your first playthrough.

@RogerRoger Missing a three second clip wasn’t exactly the end of the world!

I really enjoyed the ME3 multiplayer when I was able to play it. The higher difficulties were brutal though.

@Thrillho Yeah, I've heard good things about it. I never tried the Andromeda one (which was apparently the same, only with the game's improved combat abilities) but getting to see the ME3 multiplayer maps via the N7 Missions makes me think it could've been fun, as they're neat little places.

@johncalmc @ApostateMage @Thrillho Okay, so I didn't get the "breathe" ending, either.

Checked online and it's not a glitch. BioWare have increased the EMS threshold requirement for Shepard's survival to 7,800 in the Legendary Edition, despite it being less than half that on PS3 and Xbox360 (after installing the Extended Cut).

So yeah, as you can imagine, this was pretty much me yesterday...

Well, I just pretended they lived and it was a glitch. At least that's an answer though. I'm not sure how high you can get the EMS. I did basically everything in the game, I think, and I had carry over from the previous games - I even mined the extra resources in ME2 so it would count as an asset.

@RogerRoger Agonising that you missed out on just 50 EMS! I just checked my save and I had 8103 going into the final mission. I'm honestly not sure why it was so high considering I missed out on turning in a few missions before the Citadel raid.

@johncalmc I'm not sure you can get the EMS much beyond the mid-to-high 8,000 mark. There are apparently a heck of a lot of War Assets strewn about the galaxy map, which you can go hunting for, so long as you're prepared to constantly dodge Reapers. I did a bit of that, but obviously not enough.

@ApostateMage Did you scan all the planets? Otherwise I think it's some major decisions which can hold the balance. Apparently, one of the best ways to guarantee a high EMS is to sabotage the genophage cure and lie to the krogan, because then you get both the krogan and salarians on-side. One of the few times pursuing the Renegade path is more beneficial than going pure Paragon, even if there's a risk of eventually having to kill Wrex when he discovers your betrayal.

@RogerRoger yeah I did loads of those. I must not have done enough either. At least I'll know for nexf time!

Finished the trilogy its a shame they made the platinum's so easy you shouldnt get a platinum for just completing the games. while the original ME1 platinum was a bit over the top ME2 and ME3 platinums were fine

Platinum's should be earned not given

I usually choose the control ending as its Paragon ( because its blue) and edi and the geth dont die. Shepard controls the reapers looking after the galaxy.

@trev666 It's funny how you identify the Control ending as the good one, as I've always thought it rather insidious and frightening that Shepard could take it upon himself (or herself) to rule the galaxy. It's cool that we're given these choices, and that they're left up to personal interpretation, because I can totally see where you're coming from (everybody lives, and you get to ensure their continued survival). If I wasn't so selfish about trying to keep my Shepard alive, I usually pick Synthesis for similar reasons.

Totally agree with you on earning your trophies, but I also agree with the segmenting of the difficulty and romance trophies in a separate list, to make them optional. I haven't earned any of the platinums during my playthrough because there are still challenges in each list for me to consider next time.

I've played the series six or seven times - maybe more - and I picked Destory every single time. I actually think the other endings are incredibly stupid and only exist because Bioware thought there should be a final choice so I pick Destroy not because I like it or even agree with it but because it's the ending that does the least amount of damage to the narrative of the games.

Destroy is actually a bad ending as its red which is the renegade colour, edi and the geth die, and it actually doesnt solve the problem of synthetics eventually destroying organic life as the reapers arnt there to stop this from happening in the future.

everyone prefers the detroy ending as its originally what you set out to do at the very start of the first game and its the only one where shepard can live

And as the mass effect tag line from the very first game says "it may take being evil to defeat evil"

@johncalmc @trev666 Good points, both. It's stuff like this which makes me think that ME3 actually has a brilliant ending, and that the reaction against it back at launch was because it caught everybody by surprise, or because it wasn't conveyed as well as it could've been... heck, it was probably both.

But here, on a random forum nearly a decade after its release, we've got advocates for Control, Destroy and Synthesis debating which is best. Now all we need is somebody who turned and shot the kid!

I don't pick Destroy because I agree with it in particular. I just think the other endings are so stupid that I have to pick that one so the story I've been playing for like 80 hours doesn't have a cartoonland space magic end.

I think the main let down i had with the ending the first time i played it was if you do everything right in every game full paragon in very game it doesnt really effect the ending. It should of had a separate full trilogy paragaon ending and thats where shepard survives

Well I've only just finished ME2 (and Plat no.2) but pretty sure I did every single side mission/assignment in the game. A few random thoughts after finishing.

As I imported my Shepard from 1 I thought it best to continue as my Infiltrator, although I wasn't massively impressed with my skill options. Incinerate is always handy and AI hack is super useful against the Geth but useless elsewhere. I barely used my Cloak the whole game, I pretty much forgot about it most of the time. Thankfully being able to equip one of your squadmate's loyalty skills later on was handy. Also I played with my team-mates only using defensive abilities so always had their skills at my disposal too.
I noticed they completely changed Kelly for some reason but not sure why?
Thought they might have fixed Shepard using random weapons I didn't have for cutscenes but guess that might have been a lot of work for little gain.
The Map function is pretty much defunct in 2 unless you're going shopping, they might have well removed it.
One thing I noticed from coming straight from the first is the option to ask 'time to talk' which basically meant 'have you got anything new to talk about' and was a lot quicker than me accidently having the same conversation with my squadmates five or six times.
This one is going to be controversial but I've found Garrus much less interesting this time round. Don't get me wrong he's still cool but I've enjoyed interacting with Tali, Grunt, Legion and especially Mordin (possibly best character in the trilogy)more. In fact it's one of ME2's biggest flaws that recruiting Legion comes so late and starts a timer to the endgame, limiting your time with them.
I'm curious if anyone made what I will refer to as the alternate choice in Samara's loyalty mission. In all my playthroughs I never tried it. I've read it plays out pretty much the same 'in front of the crew' but that the bonus skill is very powerful.

I still prefer it to ME1 largely due to the better character interactions and the excellent final mission where you have to make best use of your squads strengths. I ultimately think it's the method they should have used for 3, carefully utilizing the galaxies individual abilities and assets only you can amass over the trilogy, instead of pick option A,B or C.

Anyway just some musings from my time with ME2. On to 3 to see if my opinions have changed over time.

One final thing, I stopped buying fish as they kept dying. I'm assuming the automatic fish feeder I recall is only in 3, otherwise I never found it and had an empty tank for most of the game.

They changed kellys appearance to her mass effect 3 appearance dont know why because it looks terrible. You can get kelly to feed your fish if you romance her. Morinths dominate power is good lets take over organic enemies and they fight on your side. you should try a run where you get legion as soon as you can and just leave the crew and continue on with the loyalty missions.

A youtube channel called big dan gaming is very good he does small mass effect videos showing rare things that that can happen and highlights alot of the different choices available

Started it last night! Wow ME1 is a lot more stilted than I recall. In fact for a game I've ran through at least 3 times I can barely remember any of it. I'm sure you have to check on the keepers and the inventory system seems completely alien to me. That said it was a lot of fun and fem Shep is ready to kick some butt.